Returning Darkness
by hoboduck
Summary: After the destruction of Sunnydale, the gang unravels and go their separate ways. But of course they're brought together once again to save the world... from Willow, it would seem. Or is she the one doing the saving? Who is actually on the good side this time, and what is the gang going to have to go through to find out?  A/N: Rewriting story, slowly working back up to finish it
1. The Aftermath

Hello to whoever is reading this! Old readers or new. It's been a while since I've touched this story and if there's anyone still out there who cares, well, I apologize. So let me say that I went back and reread my story and while I'll never claim to be the best writer I know that I could do better then what I put up, so I'm rewriting my chapters, well some of them at least, and I will work my way up to finishing this story for anyone who wants to know how it ends. I'll admit that I have had a lot of trouble transitioning from my latest chapter (Welcoming Old Friends- I hope that's right (; ) to the next chapter so if anyone has suggestions...

Anyway, continue on, or not, I'll try to get working on my latest chapter while rewriting some more (I've gotten a few chapters already done) and I think that will reignite my spark for this story :)

1. The Aftermath

Sunnydale was destroyed. Like the city, the original Scoobies' lives had also fallen apart, but they didn't realize that until it was too late.

They always had a love-hate relationship with the city. It was their home, there was an obliged love for it, but there was also a hated for it due to all the tragedies that took place there. Its obliteration gave them a fresh start. Their homes and possessions were gone, and while it was sad, it was also liberating. They spent some time in L.A. after the final battle to rest and decide what their next move would be. They now had to take all the new slayers into consideration, so Giles suggested starting a kind of school to train and teach the new slayers, if that's what they wanted. If not, then at least they'd would be made aware as to what they were. Giles got the Council involved, or what was left of it, on board so they headed to England and established their new headquarters.

Everyone decided to be a part of it, and they all had their jobs within the new program. Buffy, Faith, Kennedy, and Robin would train. Giles would be in charge of everything, and would also teach, as would Willow. Xander would do a little of everything, and Dawn was going to study to become a Watcher since there were so few left.

The idea was wonderful and exciting at first, but it was just a honeymoon phase. Eventually the repercussions of the past few months caught up with them. Buffy was understandably grief stricken, although she kept it inside as she always did, and slowly she grew to resent the others. She was in pain, but they didn't notice, or acknowledge, her feelings because they had their own pain to deal with, but some of what she was feeling, just a fraction in comparison to her grief, was due to them. They had doubted her too much, especially after all that they had been through over the years, and then they had the nerve to kick her out of her own home, her mother's home. It was the biggest slap in the face, and they acted like it never happened, like it was forgettable. Buffy wondered whether or not they'd turn their backs on her again if given the opportunity. But the biggest thing she was dealing with was Spike's death. It left a profound effect on Buffy, a lot more than she expected it to. She didn't realize how present he always was in her life, how much he had been there with her through, until he was gone. Now he was only alive in her dreams, and even then things were rarely happy.

Xander was also filled with grief after losing Anya. They had spent years together. He knew her, and she knew him, like no one else did. There was much that he regretted about their relationship and in her last days they were finally making up for that, but then her life was taken from her, and him. He wasn't holding up that well, and he wasn't sure how much longer he could hold up at all.

With everyone else wrapped up in their own things, Willow spent more time with Kennedy when she could. Dawn was in the middle of it all, and Faith and Robin were on the sidelines. Although, Faith stayed loyal to Buffy after they had talked about things a bit. And Andrew… Well, he saw everything play out, and was helpless to stop it.

The Scoobies' lives were in a downward spiral, but would they survive it, or let it tear them apart?


	2. The Outsider Lives

So here I am again with a rewrite. They won't be much different, but I'll fix some things which will make me feel better and I also hope my writing is a little better. Like I said, I don't know if I'll rewrite each chapter, but I'm gonna mark them as rewrites if they are. Anyway, enjoy!

2. The Outsider Lives

Everything was empty and black, and all of a sudden there was life again.

He had forgotten how bright the world was. Wait, that was just the sun. _Not again. __Why am I standing in the sun? I'm tired of burning. _But he didn't burn. _I'm still a vampire, aren't I? How'd I even get here? And who the hell are these people? _His brain was working slowly; things weren't processing right away. And then… _Angel._ Angel was standing right in front of him. _This is his fault, it must be. _

He went to attack, but something odd happened. _Why am I standing in a desk?_

_Bugger this_, he thought with a scowl.

Spike was a ghost. It was a little too much to understand. He didn't even know why he was alive again. _I should be dead. It was my time… the right way…_

_Guess I really am meant to live forever. _


	3. United we Aren't?

The Scoobies' charade of happiness came crashing down one day, as they all knew it would.

A pointless argument between Kennedy and Xander caused it. She said that the girls should be trained every single day of the week. Xander thought they should have certain days off, so they wouldn't wear themselves out.

At some point Willow jumped in to defend Kennedy, causing Xander to snap at Wil. Giles stepped in to calm things down, but it backfired.

Buffy just sat there zombie-like. That's how she usually was, except in the beginning. When they first got to England she had mastered the art of acting like she was fine. The only person she really talked to was Faith, as surprising as it was. They actually considered each other good friends, but they would never tell that to each other.

By now, things were starting to get out of hand. People were talking over each other. Some were just yelling. Everyone, that is, except Buffy.

"Buffy, will you please try talking some sense into these people?" She didn't even notice who asked the question.

"Umm, I don't know. I don't really have anything to say…"

Xander looked annoyed. "Yeah, you never have anything to say. We can't even tell who you are anymore, Buffy."

The arguing was uncontrollable. You couldn't make out a single word.

Andrew wasn't one for fighting. He had been trying speak, but he couldn't get through. Then his screams shocked everyone out of their anger. "Stop it! Everyone just stop fighting! I can't take it anymore! You all are stuck in your own worlds and you don't see what's going on with all your friends."

Everyone was silent. Guilty looks were plastered on their faces now.

"You don't recognize Buffy? Well, that's because she's drowning. You guys talk about her behind her back. 'Oh, what's wrong with Buffy? Maybe she misses Sunnydale? Maybe it's because of the other slayers? Could it really be because of Spike' Are you people blind? Of course it's because of Spike! The only people who realize that are Dawn and I- and Faith. She even carries his lighter with her! You all never realized how great their love was."

It was true. Buffy did keep that with her, but she didn't know that Andrew knew that. Tears started welling in her eyes.

He continued to point out all the things that were wrong with the group. Buffy didn't hear any of it. In the middle of it all she got up and went to her room where she started packing.

Faith followed her. "Goin' somewhere?"

"I can't stay here. I just need to get away, take a break, regroup, re…something…"

Faith and Buffy had become oddly dependent on each other. Faith had a hidden resentment towards the new slayers that only Buffy could understand (although she did and still does support Buffy's idea to share the slayer power), and her and Robin were always on and off again. Besides those two, there wasn't anyone else that was particularly fond of her. Buffy only talked about Spike with Dawn and Faith, and that brought them quite a bit closer.

"I'll go with you."

Buffy stopped and looked at her. It wasn't that she didn't want Faith coming along, she did, and she was touched by Faith's choice, but she just didn't know where she was going or what she was going to do when she got there.

"Are you sure? I don't really have a plan, and I mean, what about Robin?"

"He's a big boy. He'll understand."

"You guys are good together. In an odd way…" Buffy told her.

"Yeah, I guess we are…" Faith didn't really like to think too much about their relationship, so she got her mind back on track, "I should start packing then too, huh?"

In less than an hour Faith and Buffy were off. The only person Buffy said goodbye to was Dawn.

"I love you. I'm so sorry I have to leave, I just-"

"It's okay, I understand. I really do. Just be careful and I love you, too. It's not like we're never gonna see each other again, Buffy."

Her sister's newfound maturity still surprised her sometimes.

"Of course not. You're my sister, annoying sister, but sister nonetheless. What would I do without you anyway?" Buffy said as tears welled in her eyes. "I'm gonna go before I make a scene here. Bye, Dawnie. I love you."

And with that they were gone. They didn't know where they were going, what they were going to do, they didn't even know what they wanted to do, but it didn't matter because they had never felt so free.


	4. Hasta La Vista

The rest of the Scoobies were still angry at each other the next day. No one paid enough attention to each other anymore to notice that the two original slayers were gone, only Dawn and Robin knew. When it was discovered that they had left, the person who showed the most emotions about it was Andrew, who shed a few tears.

This was the day they all went their separate ways.

Willow decided to travel the world and unlock all its magical mysteries that she could. Kennedy wanted to stay to continue training the other girls, so they split up. It was amicable, but still upsetting.

Xander went back to the states. Somehow he ended up in a bar in Texas. He stayed there for some reason, and started a new life. A vampire and slayer free life.

The feeling around the house was too cold for Dawn now, so she went back to Rome. They had stayed there for a while once, and she developed a strange love for the city in her short time there. Or maybe she just had warm thoughts about it since she was there with Buffy, but at least it was someplace to go.

Buffy and Faith headed for good old Mexico. Faith knew a guy who said that the demon activity was pretty high in a few places there. So they went to some little town and got a small house to live in with some money they had been given from the government after Sunnydale was destroyed. It's not like they were going to move to the suburbs and get a 9 to 5 job. Slaying is what they knew and they were damn good at it. This plan gave them everything they needed.

Compared to the house in England, their place was a complete downgrade, but they didn't mind. The girls also didn't mind that they couldn't speak the local tongue; they'd make due.

In the beginning, they had their doubts that they weren't going to like it there, but eventually they truly started enjoying themselves. There were your average vamps and demons, and the local bar was okay. Buffy and Faith frequented there quite a bit. They would drink, dance, and have more fun than they were used to, the type of fun that brought back old memories, but without any stealing or people murdering, of course.

Spike was figuring out how to live as a ghost and without Buffy. It was a work in progress, and there were a few bumps to smooth through, but he was holding up alright.

Everyone was rediscovering themselves. They had no weight on their shoulders anymore. For the first time in years they were being selfish in their decisions. With all the new slayers they no longer had to worry about protecting the world; there were other people for that now. Sunnydale always held them back, although they'd never regret that, but it was just a simple truth.

And this is how their lives went on. It was pretty good for them all, for a while anyway. But, of course, all good things come to an end, and there was no one who knew that as well as the Scoobies did.


	5. Hunting for Companionship

Buffy and Faith were running through the town chasing a vamp. It was exhilarating. They loved doing this; they lived for it. There was no pressure from Giles or anyone else, they were on their own.

He was dust minutes later. It was an easy slay; he must have been a baby vamp. Afterwards, Buffy and Faith headed to the tiny bar they were so fond of. It was no Bronze, but that didn't stop them from acting like it was. The girls barely had to buy their own drinks and eventually the twosome would end up on the dance floor; actually there was no dance floor, just the regular floor, but they treated it as such.

It had been two years since they left England. They continued slaying, training, just now they had added partying and drinking. They had been through some crazy nights. There was an unfortunate incident involving cocaine and a drug dealer (but it was a total misunderstanding), waking up with an unknown 200 pound demon, which they swore to never talk about again, and some bad bar fights.

Two years had gone by without talking to each other. Old friends were now scattered across the world not knowing if they would ever see each other again, or if they even wanted to.

Xander was still living in Texas doing construction, and he was dating a girl named Kelly. She didn't know much about his life before. Demons and true evil didn't exist to her, and Xander wanted to keep it that way for both their sake. He knew it wasn't love, but she brought some peace to his life.

Willow was living in Japan now after traveling for about a year. She enjoyed it there, but she missed going from place to place. When she wasn't practicing new spells or uncovering magical secrets, Willow ran a blog about magic and it was quite popular.

Meanwhile, Dawn was still in school. She had her own friends, boyfriend, and life. She missed the chaos of being a slayer's sister, but not having to worry about world-ending issues was refreshing.

Giles, Robin, and Kennedy were still running the slayer school. Honestly, nothing had really changed there.

They were all happy, no doubt, but there was a growing sadness inside them all that could eat them alive if they continued to ignore it.

But unbeknownst to them, some old friends were going to come back and make them face their problems first, whether they wanted to or not.


	6. The Truth About the  Future

It had been almost a year and a half since the battle in L.A. against the senior partners. Spike, Angel, and Illyria were still together. They had been trying to put the city back to what it was before the destruction, although it wasn't so easy. They mostly went around pulling the bodies of demons off the streets and burning them. Of course the government had gotten involved, but Angel and Spike did what they could. The senior partners were still after them, but since the three survived their wrath, the higher ups were hesitant to strike again, but they were still watching and making new plans to kill Angel.

A woman came to visit them one day at the old hotel. Since the only people allowed in the city were government workers, it was slightly alarming. She was old, and short with pitch black hair and circular glasses. There was some kind of accent to her voice, but it wasn't very distinguishable. She said told them that she had a horrible vision of the future, but the two vamps didn't take her seriously.

"Angel, just listen to the bird, just so she'll leave." And then after a moment he added, "Please." Spike never said 'please' to him. Had Spike ever said please to anyone?

"Fine, but this is just gonna be a waste of our time."

So he sat down at a table with the woman. It was just her, him, and Spike.

"No, it will not be," she started. "You have your own problems, but in order to help yourselves you must also help your friends. Please complete the circle with your hands."

The two vampires looked at each other incredulously, but they complied and linked their hands together.

The the visions hit them instantly:

The Scoobies were arguing. Buffy was silent and still.

**Buffy and Faith in some town and then a bar.**

**Xander in a rural construction area.**

**Willow was shown in many different places.**

The visions started to become darker.

**They showed major floods, earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, epidemics, and millions of people left dead.**

**Willow was standing on the edge of a cliff, but it wasn't Willow, just the witch. Her hair was pitch black, the land around her was dead and barren.**

**There was a group of slayers. You couldn't tell what they were up to, but they didn't look like they were on the good side.**

**Buffy was staring out a window, the land was barren. She had a scar on the right side of her face straight down from her forehead to her jaw line. There was no light in her eyes.**

**Xander looked horrible. He looked drunk actually.**

**Giles was shown sitting behind a desk. He was more of a business man now.**

**And Dawn was shown with Giles and then a random girl, a slayer. She appeared to be a spy for Giles, but was sympathetic with the girl. And spying on whom and what for? They didn't know, but it wasn't apparent what side she was really on.**

The last vision frightened them to the core.

**It was Buffy and the Witch standing across from each other, and they went to attack.**

**They were both beaten to a pulp.**

**There was a flash of light and one of them released a truly blood-curdling scream, but it was unclear who was screaming.**

Angel and Spike were snapped out of it.

"What in the bloody hell was that?"

"That was the future. The end of the world by the hands of the witch," the woman answered.

Angel didn't know what to make of it. "No, no that can't happen. Buffy wouldn't let it."

"But she did. They all did. And in the end she may not be the hero anymore."

Spike didn't like that, "She will always be the hero."

"Things change. People… give up, maybe? They can be crushed, beaten down. But you can stop it from happening, you have to save them."

"Who are you?" Angel asked.

The woman laughed. "Save them... or else watch the world burn." And then she disappeared into thin air right in front of their eyes.

They weren't sure if this woman was telling the truth, but they couldn't stand around and watch this happen.

They got up and left for England immediately.


	7. The Gang No More

They took a boat to get there once they had made it to the other side of the country; it was the easiest way to avoid the sun considering Angel's Wolfram & Hart resources were gone. Spike, Angel, and Illyria arrived thirteen days later. Once they tracked down the Watcher they headed for his house, although when they arrived they realized it was more like a mansion. It was quite impressive; there were two wings by the look of it, and the gate was guarded by teenage girls, but they were slayers, of course.

Any normal person would think getting past them would be easy, but if they tried it they'd find out that they were horribly, horribly mistaken.

Angel went up to one of the slayers. "Hi, um, I'm Angel, this is Spike and Illyria. We're here to see Buffy and Giles, and Willow. All those guys, you know. They're not expecting us, but can we come in?"

The slayer stared at him for a minute. She had heard of the two vampires. All the slayers knew of them, but not because of their famous histories, only because of their relationship with the original slayer, Buffy. She wasn't sure exactly what to do here since he obviously wasn't aware that the group had split up, but she decided to call it in anyway.

She took out a phone and called the house. Another slayer answered, her name was Jen.

"Hey, it's Gina. There are some people here to see Mr. Giles, important people. Angel, Spike, and... some blue chick."

"Oh, they don't know that the others aren't here then?"

"Nope."

"Wow, well this'll be awkward, but I'll go let him know."

"Okay, thanks."

Gina held up her pointer finger, signaling for them to wait.

Jen came back to the phone. "Send them in."

Giles was surprised, but not completely. He'd heard about the goings on in L.A., and he knew that Angel would come eventually. He was very confused when he heard Spike's name, though. Spike was dead, or well truly dead.

He headed to the main hall where the three had already entered.

"Uh, hello, welcome to our new headquarters." Giles wasn't sure where to start exactly.

Angel came over to him. "Hi, Giles, it's been a while."

Giles was staring at Spike and Illyria, prompting Angel to explain. "Uh, yeah, Spike's alive. We're not sure of the details as to how it happened, but..." He shrugged, trailing off, "And that's Illyria, she's, uh… was a god, not anymore."

"I am still a god. Just because I am in a human body and on this mortal plane does not take away what I am and will always be."

Angel stared at her, unimpressed. "Uh, yeah, right. So, we have some problems. Where's everyone else?" He said looking around.

Giles took off his glasses and started cleaning them. What was he supposed to say?

"Uh, they're not here."

Spike came forward. "Well, where are they then?" He knew something was not right here.

Giles sighed, "I don't know where they are. Everyone went their separate ways, that was around two years ago."

Angel and Spike were shocked. Spike had seen the group go through some very bad times, but they had never left each other's sides. "You mean no one has spoken- no one has seen each other in two years? That sounds like bollocks to me, you all could never get rid of each other."

"Well, it's the truth. Things had been tense and then there was a big blow up. Buffy and Faith left together, then the others followed suit."

Angel was puzzled by that, "Buffy and Faith hate each other. Why would they leave together?"

"They hated each other when you knew them, but things change. You know that. They became quite close. There was always the potential for them to be good friends, and then due to the events that led to Sunnydale's demise and the aftermath they were brought together in an odd sort of friendship."

"Well, I suppose that makes sense, as odd as it still is, but okay, you really don't know where any of them are?"

"No, I don't. I don't mean anything against them, but do you really need them here? I see no reason to barge back into their lives as we have plenty of capable slayers here."

The two vamps looked at each other. What was going on here?

"Yeah, we kinda need them. It's concerning all of them, actually," Angel answered.

Giles was slightly annoyed. He had finally gotten used to everyone being gone, and he had no desire to go back to the incredibly strained state the gang was in when they were all living in the mansion.

"Well, I'd like to be filled in on what you know, and if it's necessary I suppose I could ask one of the witches to locate them while you explain."

"Witches?"

"Uh, yes, there are several new witches here."

This whole situation was going to take some getting used to for Spike. "So, that's how it is now? The whole gang's gettin' replaced?"

"It's not like that, Spike."

"Right. Well this is end of the world business so you best get on finding the others right now."

It took only hours for the witches to locate Xander. They figured he would be the easiest to find, but maybe not to convince. Having him on board could be a way of persuading the others, though.

It didn't even take that long to get his phone number. Giles dialed it, still feeling very unsure about this whole thing.

"Hello?" Said a young woman's voice.

"Um, yes, hello. Is Xander Harris there?"

"Yeah, hang on a sec. Alex, hun, there's a British man on the phone for you." She had a slight southern drawl.

There was a pause before he answered. "Hello?" But he already knew who it was.

"Xander, hello. I know it's been a while-"

"Yeah, it has. Look, I don't know why you're calling, but I won't come back. I have a new life now and it's different, but it's good for me." He was talking very quietly. Giles assumed that the woman who answered knew nothing of his life previous to Texas.

"Yes, I understand, believe me I did not want to call and bring you back into this, but it's important."

"Isn't it always?" He did sound more peaceful now, which only made Giles feel worse.

"Uh, yes, I- I suppose it is. It's end of the world business, but more importantly, it's involving Willow specifically, and Buffy."

Angel and Spike had explained the visions to Giles, as he requested, while Xander was being located. Meanwhile, Illyria, was being used as practice for the slayers. None of the girls had a chance against her.

Xaner was silent. He didn't know what to do. "What happened?"

"Well, nothing yet, but we'd like to prevent it."

"If nothing's happened yet I don't see why we're talking. I don't mean to be rude, Giles, but the future isn't written in stone right? So how do you know something bad will happen?" He was talking outside now so he wouldn't have to whisper.

"The seer envisioned the last argument and everyone leaving, so we would just like to make sure. It would be best if you came."

Xander sighed. He didn't want to sit by and watch the end of the world, but his new life didn't fit in with the old. But honestly, he missed the action sometimes.

"I'll leave as soon as I can, alright?"

"Yes, thank you."

He hung up. What was he supposed to tell Kelly?

"Hey sweetie, I need to go to England for a while."

"Why?"

Well, because I have to do some vampire slaying, demon killing, possibly apocalypse related business.

He thought about lying to her, but he had knew that some form of the truth would be the best. "My friend, the one on the phone, is having a gathering all us old friends together, you know they were like my family and it's been so long since we've seen each other. We didn't say goodbye on the best of terms, well, we didn't really say goodbye at all, but I think that I need to be there."

She smiled at him, "Of course. You should go. I know you don't really talk about them much, but you miss them. I can tell."

He kissed her forehead and went to pack his things. He would leave immediately.

Back in England, the witches were still trying to find Buffy, Faith, and Willow, but they were coming up empty.

"They don't exist."

Giles scoffed, "That's impossible. They can't not exist."

"Well, they don't show up anywhere."

"They don't wanna be found." Angel said.

"Yeah, but we have to find them. So what do we do now if they could be anywhere?" Spike asked the witches.

"Well, there's nothing we can do, it's too powerful for us. But, you could ask around, I guess. See if anyone's heard anything about them. I mean, they're the slayers and Willow's probably one of the most powerful witches in existence. Someone has to have heard something about them. Laying low doesn't really seem like their styles."

"I agree. You two should go around the demon bars and ask around, and if you know anyone here then you should find them as well."

They nodded and left.

The local demons heard some stories about the two slayers in Canada, Australia, India- you name it. But there were more people saying Mexico, so they decided to start there. No one knew anything about Willow, though, they're response was usually, "Who?"

Angel didn't know anyone in Mexico. "Do you know anyone in Mexico?" He asked Spike.

"I knew a bloke when Dru and I were there. Can't say he'll still be there, but it's worth a try. If not we can just ask around, knock some skulls, you know, the usual."

They called Giles and told him that they were headed to Mexico.


	8. Viva La Mexico

Angel and Spike arrived in Mexico seventeen days later. They wasted no time in finding the slayers, so they hunted down the guy Spike used to know. He looked like he could be related to Clem, but there were notable differences in the ears and hands.

"Heya, Spike! It's been a long time! How are you, man?"

Spike smiled back with fake enthusiasm, "I've been just swell, uhhh, mate," he didn't actually remember the guy's name, "I'd love to stay and chat, well not really, but we have some important business to take care of so I'm just gonna get to it. Have you heard anything about the slayers bein' down here for a couple years?"

"Well, there are a lot of slayers nowadays."

"Yeah, I'm talking 'bout the original two slayers, Buffy and Faith."

"Oh, them… Yeah, I've heard some stories…" He nodded his head slowly and raised his eyebrows suggestively.

Angel and Spike looked at each other in confusion.

"What kind of stories?" Angel asked flatly.

"You know, the usual kind of things: chases, brawls, some pretty big fights. Last I heard, though, they're holed up in a little town not too far away. The demons here call it Demon Loco. Not sure why…"

"Right, thanks for your help."

They headed there immediately, hoping to beat the sun.

It wasn't too hard to find, but it had taken a while to get to. And immediately after entering it they could pick up Buffy and Faith's scents. They "asked" around for their address and eventually found the little house where they lived. They weren't home, but through the slits in the curtains they could see symbols written on the walls. It was obviously their way of avoiding being found. The local bar was only second's away and it seemed like it was the place to be; it place looked packed and the music was blaring.

They entered the bar intending to ask around about the slayers, but they didn't need to for the slayers were standing right before their eyes.

Buffy and Faith were dancing to the music, and they were very intoxicated.

Buffy was wearing a halter shirt, shorts, and wedges. She looked magnificent with her long, golden hair and tan skin. But there was something else about her. Spike realized the difference was that she was having fun. Real fun, and he hadn't seen her like that in a long time. It made him remember how much he really loved her. He had been trying for so long not to think about it, but there was no hiding it now.

The vamps were standing there gawking at the two women, well, honestly, it was really just one, no offense to Faith.

Even while drunk, slayer senses were powerful, so the girls knew they were being watched, but they thought it was just by some creep at the bar. Buffy turned around, ready to tell the person off, and instead she was completely blindsided.

_No,_ she thought. It couldn't be him. It couldn't. He was gone. _I saw him die._

"I didn't realize I was that drunk," was all she could say. It was the only explanation that made sense. _He would've told me if he was..._

Faith was just as surprised. "Neither did I."

"You see him, too?"

"Yep."

"So he's real?"

"Think so, B."

As amusing as this conversation was to watch, Spike knew he had some major groveling to do, and maybe ducking.

He took a step towards her. She meant to take a step back, but her legs weren't cooperating.

"Buffy…" What was he supposed to say? She was going to be angry with him, and she had every right to be angry with him, so he thought of the most romantic apology he could, but what actually came out was, "I should've told you about this a long time ago, I know, but you know I'm not the smartest bloke."

She was silent; this was just too surreal.

"Spike…" She didn't know whether to hit him, hug him, yell at him, or completely throw herself at him. It took a few seconds to realize she was crying, and then he was wiping away her tears.

"Don't cry. I hate seeing you cry, luv."

She caressed his cheek and kept her hand there.

And it was this physical touch, combined with the rush of emotion she felt towards him in this moment, that snapped out of her loving, astonishment phase which then prompted her to punch him right in the nose, but the blow also sent her flying back. Luckily, Faith caught her.

"Ow! Bloody hell, woman! Shouldn't that have been the first thing you did?"

"W-Well," she sputtered, "it serves you right you-you jerk! Two years, Spike!"

"I know… I'm sorry, Buffy." It was a pathetic apology, he knew, but it was all her could say for now.

The whole time she never even registered that it was Angel there with him.

He was surprised by how emotional she was when she saw Spike, it even disturbed him a little. Angel walked towards them to interrupt their moment.

"Buffy, Faith, we need to talk."

Angel guided them towards a table. Buffy was too drunk and upset to focus on anything right now, but she followed him over there anyway, glaring at Spike while doing so.

She took a drink of her beer as she sat down. "So what's it this time? I don't think you two are here for a personal visit." She glared at Spike some more.

Faith was growing concerned about her friend. Buffy was in horrible shape after Spike died; she had no idea how Buffy would react to this. She'd probably get dunk, err, well, drunker.

Faith finished off her beer. "I'm gonna guess… I dunno… apocalypse?"

She took the vamps silence as confirmation. Buffy realized how odd this situation was. It was her, who was drunk, Faith, who was also drunk, Angel, and back from the dead Spike, in a bar, in the middle of nowhere in Mexico.

She started laughing. They all looked at her oddly. "Sorry, I think I'm a little tipsy."

Faith smiled. Buffy was beyond tipsy, as was herself, but she would take care of this. "Look, there are a whole bunch of mini slayers now, so I think they can probably get the job done. B and I are in on a, are in a... no," she paused, "we're on an extended vacation. Indefinitely. Got it?"

"You don't understand," Angel sighed in frustration, "it's not just an apocalypse. It's gonna happen because of Willow, and somehow you play a pivotal role in this, Buffy." Angel was upset because they weren't taking this seriously. The Buffy he remembered would be barking out questions and orders trying to figure out how to stop this from happening. Now she was just chugging the rest of her beer.

After she had finished her beer she responded, "It won't if I'm not there for it. I'm not going back."

"What happened to you? With all of you? The people I knew wouldn't hesitate to come back and help their friends and save the world."

"Well, I've changed and so has the world, and so have my friends. I'm sorry that I can't be the same old Buffy Summers for ya."

She got up and left. Faith nodded to the vamps and followed her out. If things were different she would catch up more with Angel, but now wasn't the time.

Angel started to go after them, but Spike stopped him.

"Don't go after her. You'll only upset her more. She'll come round eventually."

Angel cursed the day that Spike knew Buffy better than he did. He rolled his eyes and asked, "How do you know?"

"Because she's too good. We just barged into her life and demanded that she change things. We're telling her to go back to the place where she was miserable, the place that she ran away from. And she's gonna have to see her friends again. Of course she wouldn't react well. It was bloody stupid of us to do it this way, of me to do it this way"

Angel hated that Spike had figured all this out. He was mostly concerned about Spike making a move on Buffy again, but he hid that concern. "We should leave. If we stay it'll just make things worse."

Spike nodded. "So long, Goldilocks," he sighed. He left that bar unsure if he would ever see Buffy Summers again and even more unsure about what the future had in store for them.


	9. Vampires Screw Up Your Life Sometimes

"I cannot believe them! To just come here and try and tell me what to do! Ugh, stupid, self-righteous vampires," she muttered.

Buffy was angrily pacing the living room while Faith just sat on the couch and listened.

"You can be pretty self-righteous yourself, B."

"Whose side are you on?" Buffy demanded, turning to face Faith.

"Yours all the way, but I'm just pointin' out a fact. Gotta keep you grounded, ya know?"

Buffy sighed in defeat, "Yeah, you're right. I just... I can't believe he's been alive for two years and didn't tell me," her voice was growing smaller now as she sat down, "You'd think that'd be the first thing he would do! I thought I was important to him." She said that last part so softly that Faith barely heard her.

Faith knew that's what she had been truly angry about before. "You are. The way he looked at you? Damn, I wish someone would look at me that way. It was like he was seeing the light for the first time, B. But like you said: self-righteous vamps, so you should be angry."

Buffy shook her head, "He probably thought he was doing the right thing, and I doubt Angel helped. Stupid idiot, now I remember why I kinda hate him, both of them actually…" She trailed off and the over-looming apocalypse shot to the front of her mind. "What do you think about this new apocalypse thingy? You think it's real?"

Faith thought about it for a few seconds, "I dunno. Normally, I really would think the new slayers could handle it, but if it has to do with Willow, then…"

"It could be pretty bad? Yeah..." They sat in silence for a while before Buffy conceded, "Maybe we should go back."

Faith nodded, but didn't say anything. They had no choice. Willow could be very dangerous and there was no way the new slayers would be able to deal with her, especially if the Scoobies themselves could barely deal with her when she's deep into magic. They were going back to England, well, eventually, anyway.

Seventeen days later, Spike and Angel were back at Giles' mansion.

Giles greeted them. "Any luck?"

"Not so much, but I think it was 'cos of us. She'll help. I know she will." Spike was certain about this.

"I believe she will, too," Giles paused. He wanted to ask about her, but wasn't sure if he deserved to know. He caved and asked anyway, "How is she?" They may not have spoken in two years, but she was still a daughter to him.

Spike was still in awe of her after so much time apart, but he thought it best to keep it simple and not so personal for the watcher. "She seemed good. Happy, as she can be," Spike shrugged. How was he supposed to tell him that she was flat out drunk? And very angry.

Giles smiled. "Good. Uh, well, we still haven't found any trace of Willow-"

At that moment Xander walked in. He and Giles had a nice, but awkward, greeting earlier. They had said hello, made courteous small talk, and then separated for the evening. The elephants in the room were going to have to wait.

"What the hell? Spike?" Xander had forgotten how many surprised this life brought with it.

"Yeah, uh, long story short, I guess I'm really not supposed to die, so I'm here still," he explained.

Xander still held some hatred for Spike, but he remembered that he did save the world, and Buffy cared for him deeply. So he pushed those feelings away. He liked to think that the past two years have made him a better man, or at least a different man, so he should try and show it. Xander went over to him and stuck out his hand.

Spike was surprised, but he shook Xander's hand. No hand was offered to Angel, though which left the brooding vamp feeling slightly offended.

More small talk was made, and then they all headed to their rooms.

Meanwhile, the search for Willow continued.

Andrew, who had been away on a mission to locate a slayer somewhere in Australia, returned to the house the next day.

"G'day everyone! I hope all has been fantastic here. My top secret mission in Aussie territory-"

"Andrew, your mission was not top secret." Giles said while rolling his eyes.

"As I was saying, my mission down under, while maybe not top secret but certainly dangerous and confidential, was a success. The slayer is here, and so is- Whaaaaat! Spike? Oh my goodness! You're here! You're alive!"

Andrew ran over and threw his arms around Spike, much to his dismay. "Don't tell them I knew, please, please, please."

"Yeah, alright Andrew, but you need to stop hugging me," Spike mumbled.

"Oh, right sorry. I thought maybe your time of being back to life might've made you more in touch with your feelings, but I guess I was mistaken. Ah, hello, Angel."

"Hi, Andrew."

"So what are you two doing here? You didn't come to fight over Buffy again, did you?"

"It'll probably happen," said Spike.

"Not exactly," said Angel, at the same time.

The two vamps looked at each other. Spike was, of course, the more straightforward one, but they honestly hadn't talked about that. Yes, they had both thought about it, but they were more concerned with possibly having to save her life.

Giles intervened. "Actually, there is a risk of an apocalypse occurring. They are the ones who found out about it. We're trying to locate Willow, Xander's already here, and Buffy and Faith have remained uncooperative so far."

"You mean everyone's going to come back together?" Andrew was so happy that he could cry, "Finally, this family will be reunited."

"Not everyone's as excited as you, mate."

"But they will be, eventually, I know it." He always managed to look on the bright side.

After everyone talked a bit more, they all went and did their own things. It went on like that for a few more days. Then one night, at around three in the morning, Buffy and Faith quietly arrived. They had spent the last twenty or so days saying goodbye to their life in Mexico, and they made the most of it, but they were still not ready to deal with a reunion yet.

Buffy and Faith were greeted at the gate by Gina, a slayer that Buffy trained.

"Oh my God! You're back!"

Buffy smiled. Honestly, she didn't remember her name, but she recognized her. "Yeah, hi. Umm, please don't wake anyone up. Please. We don't really wanna see anyone yet."

"Oh yeah, of course! Go in!"

She opened the gate for them, and another slayer, Jen, welcomed them inside. Neither Buffy nor Faith recognized her.

"Hi! Welcome back. Do you want me to show you to your rooms?"

Faith kept walking. "No, thanks."

Giles' house was separated into two wings. One was remodeled and very nice. The other wasn't remodeled, but the two slayers loved it. It was old, and kind of musty, but it reminded Buffy of the part of the castle that Belle wasn't supposed to enter in Beauty and the Beast.

She chose the room at the very end of the hallway, probably because it was the farthest away from people. Faith chose to live in this wing because for some reason she felt comfortable in dumpy places.

The very first time Buffy entered the room she fantasized about finding an enchanted rose, but that didn't happen. She learned a long time ago that this wasn't a fairytale. Her room was beautiful, in an old, musky kind of way with a fireplace and a canopy bed.

Her room was one of the very few upsides to coming back.

Buffy walked down the hallway unsure of whether she should've come back at all. She was nervous, annoyed, and pretty tired. All she wanted to do was sleep. Buffy opened the door to her room and, again, there was no enchanted rose, but there was something, or more accurately, someone else there.

It was Spike, shirtless, while reading a book on the bed with a fire lit.

This was definitely not what she was expecting. It was no rose, but what the hell, she'd take it anyway.


	10. The Awaited Reunion

Buffy and Spike chose the same room. There was a certain amount of humor in this that she appreciated.

The minute she walked in he looked up. Her presence immobilized him; all he could do was stare. They both stayed silent and still for some time. It wasn't awkward, though.

She laughed, finally breaking the ice. "Sorry, I didn't mean to barge in on you."

She moved away from the door, but didn't close it. She sat her bags down at a door a few rooms away and returned to his.

He was standing now, and only a few feet away from the door, and from her. "I take it this was your room."

She smiled fondly and nodded, "Yeah…"

"I could move out of it, if you like," he offered.

"No! No, no, it's fine. I left. The room was totally fair game."

They stood there for a while. It was unexpectedly comfortable being around each other.

"You came back," he said softly.

"Yeah," she thought for a moment before continuing on, "I had to. And I'm sorry about that. I should've listened, but no, I was all self-centered and kinda drunk Buffy."

He looked at her, his head tilted, with that piercing gaze that made her feel like he could see right through her.

"No, we shouldn't have come into your life and pushed you like that."

"But you had reason to-"

"No we-"

"Yes, you did-"

"But-"

They stopped abruptly and both laughed.

"Um, you can come in… If you want…" He smiled shyly.

"I'm not interrupting?" She didn't want to seem too eager. Not that he would've cared anyway.

Sleep was the farthest thing from Buffy's mind now.

"No, I wasn't doing anything anyway." He quickly threw the book onto the floor as she sat down on the bed.

"So, why'd you choose this room?" She asked, deciding that small talk would probably be the safest subject for now.

He sat by her, but left space between them, "It felt like home in a way. It's old, kind of dusty. But, I wonder what you saw in it?"

She laughed, "It, um, reminded me of Beauty and the Beast. It was also far away from everyone else."

He stared at her, and gave a small laugh. "I wasn't expecting that. But, yeah it does look like that, I suppose."

"You've seen Beauty and the Beast?" She replied, disbelief was thick in her words.

"Well, I mean, there was a lot of buzz going on about it, you know. And anyway, Dru and I thought the Beast was gonna eat the girl, or at least maul her to death. Instead we got talking furniture and a bunch of lovey dovey sing songs."

Buffy was slightly horrified, but she let herself laugh anyway.

They fell into another comfortable silence.

She really didn't want to get all serious yet, but she couldn't ignore the nagging voice inside her anymore.

"Spike…" She looked at him, and he looked back at her. He knew what she was going to ask, but he let he continue. "Why didn't you tell me?"

_I thought it was best for you, but now I'm thinkin' I was wrong about that_. "I wanted you to get on with your life, and I thought I'd only make it more complicated for you."

"Self-righteous vampire," she muttered. "I- um," she wasn't sure how to say everything that was going through her mind right now. "My life will always be complicated. I've realized that now. But what helps is to have people that can help you forget and fix the complicated, the bad, stuff. And you've been good at that in the past, so I think my life... It's better with you in it." She was surprised by her own honesty. Especially since honesty was something they've had trouble with in the past. Buffy looked down at her hands, thinking of all the things she had done in the past two years, good and bad.

He saw how she was now, and it worried him. "Are you alright, Buffy?"

She laughed quietly, "I don't know. Sometimes I am. Other times…" She shrugged. She missed him so much it hurt? She felt perfectly okay, but only because she was drunk? What was she supposed to say? "Other times I'm not."

"Why?" He was really hoping it wasn't because of him, but deep down he knew it was.

"I just feel kinda lost." _Without you_, she thought. His eyes were urging her on. "You were like my, my- I don't know, my anchor. Maybe it's dangerous to depend on someone so much, but I did. You were the one person who I could be completely honest with, well, in the times that I was honest. You just knew me and accepted me. And then you weren't there anymore, and I was useless with the other slayers here, so I just didn't know what to do with myself. I still don't." . She wanted to say this to him, but she kept it to herself for now.

Spike moved closer to her. Buffy had been more than honest with him, she deserved the same thing. "I thought that I went out in a great way, I couldn't just come back from that and say hi. I've done a lot of bad things, to you, to others, and I realized that I was never gonna have a better moment than that, and there were things that I didn't..." He trailed off. There was no need to go there yet. "But I felt the same way when you weren't there."

"I would've been there."

"I know."

"Stupid vampire," she muttered.

He smiled ruefully. "God, I've missed you."

She simply looked at him. "I know." After a pause a thought came to her, and she teased him with it, "I tried the whole dying to save the world thing a couple times, and it didn't work for me, so I don't know what made you think it would work for you."

"That's true, luv. I should've thought about that."

She thought about telling him she loved him, because she did. More than ever, but they still haven't talked about the last time, or more correctly, the first time she said it. Luckily, he spoke before she did.

"What happened around here, Buffy?"

She sighed, "Oh god, a lot." _Where to start?_ "Everything was a mess. We never really talked about them kicking me out of my house, and tension built up 'cause of that, it was mostly from my side though. Xander was just devastated because... oh," then she stopped, "Anya died, I don't know if you knew that?" Spike nodded. Giles had filled him in on what happened after he died. "Anyway," Buffy continued, "he didn't realize how big of a loss it was until we got here. Then he wasn't really him anymore, and Willow was all weird 'cause of Xander and she was so much more powerful too. Her focus was on magic and stuff... And I, well, I was just, I don't know, empty? I barely talked to anyone, except Dawn and Faith. I dunno, we all just fell apart."

He was so surprised that he had done this to her. Was it possible that she really did love him, in those last days in Sunnydale? And if she did, had her feelings changed?

"You meant what you said, didn't you?"

There was no need to clarify. She knew what he meant. "Yeah, I did. I do."

"You love me?"

"Yeah, I love you."


	11. The Moon and the Stars Together Again

Spike couldn't believe it. She really loved him, and he was once stupid enough to not believe her. Maybe it wasn't that he didn't believe her, but when she told him that first time, he couldn't let himself believe her. Knowing the truth and then having to say goodbye to it the next minute would've been horrible. It would've been too tempting to leave.

He sat there on the bed with his jaw dropped. He didn't know what to say. What was he supposed to do? Apologize? That wasn't enough.

She didn't know what to say either. Maybe he finally, really believed her. But was it too late? She didn't know. What did she want to happen now?

Buffy started to get off the bed. "I should go, it's been a long couple days for me."

_No!_ She couldn't leave now. Spike jumped off the bed. "Buffy, um, you know, you could stay here. I mean, it's your room after all. We could just, talk I guess, if you want. If you don't that's fine, I suppose…" He had turned into the babbling idiot.

She smiled, Spike was flustered and it was a rare sight to see. "Um, yeah, okay… That would be…nice."

They both sat down on the bed. Now it was awkward, but not in an unbearable kind of way.

She glanced at him, "Look, we can just act like that didn't happen... or not, I don't know."

"No, Buffy. We can't act like it didn't happen. That doesn't work with us, and you know it. I'm such a jerk, but you've never been exactly honest when it comes to your feelings. I thought -"

"You thought I was saying it 'cause you were gonna die. I know. It was bad timing, but I realized it was the last chance I was gonna get. I kept putting it off."

He took her hand. "Plus, luv, I had to get you outta there. You couldn't stay."

"I could've, I was gonna."

"I know, I saw that look in your eyes. But I couldn't let it happen."

She nodded her head. He really loved her. She felt good inside.

He decided to lighten the mood. "So, tell me, what have you been doing the past two years?"

So she told him. She told him everything from Faith waking up with a disgusting demon, their daily drinking habits (which made Spike question whether or not she had a problem), all the fights, the mistakes, and how much training they've been doing which prompted them to decide to start sparring together.

"I'll teach you a few things," she said teasingly.

"You? Teach me? I doubt that, pet."

"Yeah, I'm a real pro now."

He just laughed, although he didn't doubt her.

There was something that was bugging him, but there was no way he bring it up without sounding jealous, which he very much was, but he didn't have the right to be jealous.

"Umm, Buffy, what about... the Immortal?"

She glanced at him and decided that he was being genuine enough. "That was, uh, just a fling, nothing important to me. He was nice, you know, but completely full of himself."

He was insanely happy to hear this, but he kept it cool on the outside. "Yeah, I never cared for him either."

They continued to talk all night with Buffy snuggled up next to Spike.

Eventually, their talking died down. They were just enjoying being in each other's arms again. It had been too long.

Buffy looked up at the ceiling and noticed something that wasn't there when she lived here. "Is that a skylight?"

"Yeah, apparently one of the witches tried to turn this into a plant room or something, and they had that put in."

"So what happened to the plants?"

"I guess she accidentally caught them on fire," he shrugged. "Witches."

She laughed and stared up at the sky, "Well, it looks nice anyway."

Buffy fell asleep in the early morning, at first he just watched her, and held her, but eventually he drifted off to sleep, too, after staring up at the moon and stars. It was a perfect night.

Angel woke up early that morning. He walked out of his room and noticed someone's bags in the hallway. They were Buffy's, he just knew it. But why were they in the hall?

He walked over to the room her bags were in front of, it was empty, so where was she? Then he caught her scent, which went towards Spike's room. _No. No, why would she be in there?_

He went to the door and quietly cracked it open. There she was, lying in his arms. As much as he hated to admit it, she looked peaceful. He reluctantly closed the door and went to work out a bit, mostly it was to get his anger out.

Buffy and Spike awoke sometime later. She hadn't felt so happy in a long time. She opened her eyes and looked at Spike, who was still asleep. Buffy couldn't believe she was here in his arms after so long, after everything that happened.

Spike's eyes blinked open, he could feel her staring at him. "Whatcha thinkin', luv?"

"Just that, I'm really happy. And it's because of you."

He smiled. He loved her even more when she said things like that. The honestly they could have now was freeing.

They continued to lie in bed for a while, until finally deciding that they, well actually she, had to get up and face everyone eventually.

"Well, I'll see you soon." Buffy said, smiling as she walked out of her room which was actually now Spike's.

"Back at ya, Slayer."

Spike also hadn't been so happy in ages. He thought that they would never have an actual chance together, and here she was with him when Peaches, who he always thought was her true love, was in the same building. Maybe he was though, and if he was, did that matter?

Could she actually choose him? Sure, she loves him, and he really does believe her now, but would she actually decide to be with him?

At the moment he didn't really care, he was just floating on cloud nine.

She felt deliriously happy. It was probably obvious too. The only thing that brought her party down was the thought of seeing the others. Giles, Xander, Willow, not to mention Angel which includes a much dreaded, serious conversation. She expected the word cookies to be involved.

Buffy showered dressed and then went to knock on Faith's door.

The other slayer opened her door warily, then as she realized who it was she smiled and let Buffy in.

"Ready to get on with this circus act, B?"

"We are one big freak show, aren't we? Well, it was bound to happen eventually."

"No doubt about that. So let's just go get this over with."

They walked down the corridor and went towards the library, which was the HQ for everything. That hadn't changed.

Giles was in there waiting. As he turned around and saw his slayer, once a daughter to him, his heart filled with love, regret, and uncertainty.

"Buffy, hello. And hello to you as well, Faith."

Faith nodded at him. She had no feelings of ill will towards him, but the two of them didn't really need any type of reunion.

Buffy didn't know what to say to him. "Giles." It was just his name, but it seemed like it conveyed enough of what she wanted.

They stood there awkwardly. As much as she loved him, they couldn't have the big reunion filled with hugs. There were too many things that needed to be talked about first.

So instead of hugging him, she gave him a smile. "It's good to see you again," she really did mean it.

"And it's good to see you as well. I hope you've been doing alright."

"Yeah, I have. And you?"

He looked at her and gave a small smile, "I've managed."

Before their conversation could go anywhere else, Xander walked in.

"Hey, Buffy," he sounded happy to see her, but there was an underlying wariness, or maybe it was a sadness. Buffy couldn't really tell.

"Hey, Xander."

They, too, stood there awkwardly.

"It's been awhile, huh?"

She smiled at him, she was surprisingly happy to see him, eye patch and all. Although she was mad at him, he was the one she harbored the least amount of blame and anger towards. He lost his eye and the love of his life. She could relate, well not with the eye thing anyway.

"Almost too long, actually." She said.

He nodded and walked closer to her. Should they hug or not? He wasn't sure so he grabbed her hand and squeezed it. She found it a welcome gesture.

In walked Andrew. "Buffy! The Slayer of the Vampyres is back, err, I mean slayers. Hello, Faith. You look… tough and frightening as usual." Faith just gave him a nod; the two had butted heads many times, but it was never serious. Buffy and Andrew hugged each other. She had appreciated him ever since that night in the new Sunnydale High when she convinced him that he had to die in order to close the seal. And surprisingly, he kept on proving himself.

Spike and Angel had been waiting at the door, unseen. They didn't want to intrude on their first meeting in two years.

"So," Buffy said, breaking the underlying tension, "who else is here?"

"Well," Giles answered, "we haven't located Willow yet, but Spike and Angel are here, as is a companion of theirs. Dawn should be here anytime, but otherwise everyone else is still here."

On cue, Spike and Angel walked in with Illyria trailing behind. Angel went over and hugged Buffy, she was taken aback by it. She wasn't sure how to act around him; her feelings for him were still there, but they were the same feelings she had for him when she was in high school, and she had changed enormously since then. He just wasn't what she wanted anymore, it was as simple as that.

"I'm glad you came back," he told her. It almost sounded like an apology.

She smiled at him nodded as he went to hug Faith.

Spike walked over to her unsure how to act with her in front of people. "Buffy," he said curtly, but not unkindly.

"Spike."

He looked over at Faith, "Hey."

Faith just smirked, "Why're you so happy, bleachboy?"

He narrowed his eyes and glared at her, "No reason," he answered defensively.

Then Buffy noticed Illyria standing in the back of the room. "Uh, who's the goth smurfette?"

"Whoa, is that Fred?" Faith barely recognized her.

"Who?" Buffy had no idea what was going on.

Angel stepped in. "Fred was... a good friend, and then a couple years ago her body got taken over by an ancient demon king, Illyria."

At the mention of her name, Illyria came forward. "So this is the human that plagues the both of you. The way you talked about her made her seem more impressive, but she appears to be insignificant to me."

Before Buffy could say anything in response, Angel whisked Illyria away and Spike moved Buffy further away from the former king. It would certainly be an impressive fight between the two, but there's no telling how much damage would be done to them.

Buffy, after calming down some, turned to Giles. "So how are we supposed to find Willow? I mean she's an uber powerful witch who doesn't wanna be found."

"Well, someone has to have seen her, and all we have to go off is other people's words. It will take a while."

"Do we have any general idea where she is?"

"We think somewhere in Asia, according to a few rumors, but that's as close as we've gotten."

Buffy and Faith looked at each other knowingly. "Buffy and I have some contacts in certain places. Mostly demons, but they might've heard something."

Giles was curious on how they acquired these contacts (he was actually quite curious as to everything they've been up to), especially demons, but he kept his mouth shut. "Good, hopefully they will be of help."

Buffy looked around her and took everyone in. She didn't expect to see all these people back together for a very long time, and certainly not under these circumstances, but so far things were going well. It was time for her to take charge of them again and get Willow found.

"Okay then, Faith and I will contact our…contacts; Giles… will do whatever he normally does around here, headmast or something; Spike and Angel will do… whatever you guys normally do during the day; Andrew and Xander, uh, you guys just hang here and maybe wait for Dawn to show up or something. Cool?"

She was a little rusty on giving orders, so what?


	12. She's Definitely Not Turning Japanese

Hello readers! I can't stop thanking you guys for the reviews! They make me happy :) Well, here's a short teaser/intro for the next chapter. Enjoy!

12. She's Definitely Not Turning Japanese

They were searching for her, but they wouldn't find her. Not unless she wanted to be found, and currently that wasn't on the schedule.

Somewhere along the way she lost herself. The black took over. No one's death caused it this time. Nor did any power like the First. It really just happened. She lost the things, the people, that grounded her in sanity, and that made the return to darkness so much easier.

It wasn't like she was murdering people this time around; she wouldn't let herself go that far. But, dark magic was definitely a part of her now, and murder was a possibility looming over.

Would she loose complete control soon?

Maybe, maybe not.

It wasn't up to Willow anymore.


	13. The Wicked Witch of the Future

So what do you do when you're bored while avoiding an important essay you're supposed to write? Add another chapter to your story, of course! I know, I really should work on it, but this is more fun. And luckily for you loyal readers, I have plenty of school work (saying homework just sounds so childish when you're in college), so that's why I update often :) Anyway, enough about me. More Willow, yay! Read & Review, please!

13. The Wicked Witch of the Future

People had old information about Willow. Like they saw her a few years ago, she was here in June, or July, and August a couple years ago. It was as if she just disappeared one day, which is actually very possible and likely.

The longer it took to find her, the more nervous everyone became. She's a key person in solving the mystery of these visions. Were they really true, or just a false image of everyone's worst nightmare?

What they didn't know was that she could see them, she was watching them. She hadn't planned on showing herself to them, especially not this early, but her plans had no option but to change. She had fallen a little bit deeper into the magic. No, not magic, it's more like a black hole that she doesn't want to get sucked into, but there's no fighting it.

They wouldn't understand. They would try and plead with her to come back, they could help her, but really, they can't. There is more going on than they even know.

The timing wasn't right yet. All Willow could do was wait for the moment to present herself.

Two years ago:

Willow was sitting in her apartment, blogging about the latest trend in spells while listening to an instructor on her headphones. Learning the language was not as easy as she thought it would be.

"Repeat after me." The voice on the program said.

"Repeat after me. Oh, you probably didn't want me to repeat that part, huh? Well, you're just gonna have to deal with it missy."

There was a knock on the door, but she didn't hear it. The knocking became louder and more urgent, but still, Willow did not hear it.

Through her headphones she heard a muffled crash. Willow got up and went to go see what had happened, but she was met by an old woman rushing across her living room.

Before Willow could get any words out the lady grabbed her hand, and said, "Two years from now there will be an apocalypse. You will prevent it, but your efforts will not be recognized by anyone else. It must be you and you alone in your struggle. You will have to face your fears and go to the deepest places to complete this task. Do not tell the others of what you are doing; you must embrace the role of villain."

Before Willow could process anything that was said, visions were flashing through her mind. They were shocking, and they wouldn't stop.

There was the argument between everyone.

Buffy and Faith in a bar.

Xander in a construction area.

She saw herself all over the world.

There were flood, hurricanes, tornados, epidemics, mostly death.

Her worst nightmare was next. She saw herself, her hair black as night, standing on the edge of a barren cliff.

A bunch of shady looking slayers were next.

It showed Buffy, with a gruesome scar on her face, looking more of a warrior than ever.

Xander looked horrible, bloated, possibly drunk.

Giles was the proper business man.

Dawn was a traitor, or was she? Whose side was she on?

Willow, more accurately the witch, was standing across from Buffy. They went to attack.

They were bruised and bloody, they could barely stand.

The visions went black, then there was a flash of light and all that was left was the sound of a scream, full of pain and defeat.

The visions were over. Willow couldn't form any words.

"Wha... Wh..."

"Shhh, don't speak. Do you remember what I told you?"

Willow only nodded her head. She needed to sit down.

"Good. You will figure out your role with time. Be patient, don't rush this." With that the woman was gone.

Willow was left sitting on her couch, completely confused, astonished, and scared. Should she believe the woman? Visions can be faked easily, but something about that felt so… _real_.

She knew that something had upset the universal balance. Did it have anything to do with what happened in L.A. recently? It was all over the news. The city was in complete destruction. She could contact Angel, but she was supposed to work alone…

Somehow she had to figure out what was really going on. A part of her truly did believe the woman, but she couldn't go on blind faith alone.

Present time:

Two years. She had sacrificed so much and tried too hard. Unfortunately, she was failing in her efforts. The apocalypse grew closer, and she was running out of time.

She had to go to the end of the world to figure out what she was supposed to do, and the information she found out there was terrifying.

When she shows up, they will fight her, and she will do whatever it takes to save the world.

If only they could know.


	14. Reunited and it Feels So Painful

Hmmm... I wonder what could happen in this chapter? Well, you'll just have to read it (and then review, please!) to find out! Enjoy!

14. Reunited and it Feels So Painful

"Tell me again about these visions."

Buffy and Spike finally got some time alone. She and Faith's contacts came up empty. No one else made any progress either.

"Haven't you heard enough about them already?"

Buffy just gave him a look.

He sighed. There was no winning with her. "They were… intense."

"How so?"

"There was so much death and destruction. Basically, it was William the Bloody's dream land."

"There was a vision of me, right?"

He nodded. Her face haunted him. And it wasn't the scar, although that was horrifying. It was the look in her eyes. They were full of anger, hate, sadness, and emptiness if that's at all possible at once.

"Spike, explain please."

"You had a nasty scar across your face, that's all."

"And you were repulsed by me, right? Oh my god…"

"No. God, no. I'm just worried about how you got it."

There was something that he wasn't telling her, but she wouldn't push it.

They had fallen into their old ways. Trusting each other completely, but they were a little more loving with each other. Not physically, that would be a whole new step that they weren't ready for yet.

Angel was looking for her, but she was nowhere to be found. He couldn't bear the possibility that they might be together right now.

Finally, he spotted them sitting in the dining room, which was rarely used.

He cleared his throat. Buffy jumped.

"Oh god, Angel, you scared me."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to. Giles called a meeting in the library."

Spike snorted. "And he sent you to fetch everyone, or did you volunteer so you could come and break up me and the slayers little meeting?" His tone was so thick with anger, accusation, and satisfaction from knowing how jealous Angel was.

Buffy looked at him, "Spike", she said curtly. Even she was annoyed with Angel, but she didn't like being in the middle of this.

"Sorry, slayer, let's go then Peaches."

The walk to the library was completely silent and uncomfortable, but luckily it was ended when Buffy spotted Dawn also heading towards the library.

"Dawn!"

"Buffy!"

The two sisters, unbeknownst to everyone else except Faith, had done their best to keep in contact over the last two years. While they were hugging each other they managed to have a small, quiet conversation.

"I swear I didn't tell them where you guys were. I don't know how they found you."

"It's okay Dawnie, Spike and Angel found us."

Dawn then remembered that Spike was alive and here. She ran over and totally blindsided him with a hug.

"Hey Bit, or not-so-Bit actually."

"OhmyGod, Spike I never thought I'd see you again!"

"I don't mean to interrupt your reunions, but we have some very important news to discuss." Giles, looking quite impatient, stood at the entryway to the library.

They all filed into the room and took their seats.

"Willow has been spotted-"

"What?"

"Where?"

"When?"

Giles held up his hand. "Today, only a while ago actually, and she was right here on our grounds. But there's something else. One of the younger slayers saw her, not knowing it was Willow because her hair was pitch black."

No one said anything. They tried so hard to help Willow gain control of her power, and they should've realized that leaving her on her own might've set her back. All the times that she had been getting drunk and having fun, Willow could've been struggling, or maybe in pain. Buffy felt guilty for the first time since she left for Mexico.

"We have to help her."

Faith didn't want to rain on the Scooby support parade, but she had to say something. "Look, I know I wasn't around when she went all wicked witch before, but I've heard the story. Would she really listen to us?"

The group was silent. Faith was right. There was no way Willow would listen to them when she was like this.

"Well we at least have to try. Maybe my yellow crayon speech would work again." Xander said weakly.

"I'm too powerful to fall for that now."

Everyone jumped at the sound of her voice. Out of nowhere she had appeared in the library.

At the sight of her, Andrew hid under the table. "Don't let her see me!"

Everyone except Buffy, Faith, Spike, and Angel backed away from Willow.

Buffy stood up. "Wil, come on, this isn't you. Come back from this, we can help you."

Willow went and took a seat. "No, you can't. No one can."

They were so predictable.

"Willow, you're gonna harm a lot of people. This needs to stop."

"You always doubt me, Buffy. Why is that?"

"Because you're dangerous like this."

"No it's more than that. Even when I'm plain ol' Willow, you don't exactly trust me anymore, do you?"

"I will always trust you, Wil, just not when you're this person."

Oh, if only they could know that she isn't the bad guy, well not exactly anyway. Dark magic always has a sort of evil effect on her. Even if it's for the greater good.

"Well, that's a shame then. I guess I should be on my way, I've got things to do."

"I can't let you do that."

"How are you gonna stop me?"

"In any way I can."

"This high and mighty act is awful old, Buffy. Try a new routine."

"Willow, please don't do this."

"Pleading won't work. In fact nothing will. I will do anything I have to in order to get out of here, and it doesn't take much for me to leave. So stand down."

The magic was taking control of her. She had to leave or she would do something she'd surely regret.

"No, Willow, you know I can't do that."

"Look, Buffy, get out of the way or you will get hurt. That's guaranteed."

But Buffy didn't back down. And Willow didn't know what to do. She could leave, just pop out of the room, but the magic wouldn't let her. It wanted a fight. After a moment Buffy took a step forward. She was really pushing it.

Another step.

Willow was losing control. Buffy thought she was getting to her, but she wasn't prepared for what happened next.

Suddenly, Willow's hand flew out in front of her and a burst of dark magic shot out, hitting Buffy.

"Buffy!" Everyone cried out.

Before Willow could show her true emotions she disappeared. She had to play the villain, but in doing so she only increased the chance of another vision coming true.

What was she supposed to believe?

Only weeks ago there started to be a rise in weather activity. There were fatal tornados in unusual areas, a deadly hurricane in Greece. Willow had no idea if she had contributed to this at all. She wanted to believe that she was doing good, and preventing an apocalypse, but maybe she was the cause. It didn't help to doubt herself, though. If things continued to go on like they are then eventually these storms would appear in greatly populated areas, and they will get more and more intense.

She had hurt Buffy. How was she supposed to take that back, or fix it? Maybe if everything works out in the end, Buffy will understand. They all will.

But for now she had to get the hell outta England.


	15. Scar Tissue

Thanks to you guys who have continued to review my story. That's so awesome! Well, this is one of my favorite chapters, but I don't know if I'm biased because I wrote it ;)

15. Scar Tissue

She didn't understand what had happened. Her face hurt, though. And everyone was crowded around her, except Andrew. After all this time he still thought Willow might have it out for him.

Faith was using a towel to rub the side of Buffy's face. What was she doing that for?

"Knock it off." She tried to push away Faith's hand, but Faith wouldn't listen to her. "I'm fine."

"No, B, you aren't."

"What happened?"

"The others don't think you need to see it yet, but you know me. I usually disagree from general opinion. You gotta prepare yourself, okay?"

She still didn't understand. What did Willow do to her?

Faith was helping her up off a couch; they were seated only inches away from the rest of the group.

Giles intercepted them. "Uh, Faith, do you really think this is the best idea?"

"Yeah, I do. She's a big girl. She can handle it."

Giles merely sighed.

Now the two women were in a bathroom.

"Okay, are you ready for this? It's gonna be a shock."

Buffy didn't respond, but she looked very confused. Losing patience, Faith turned her around to face a mirror.

Buffy gasped. "Oh my god…"

Her face.

She wasn't an incredibly conceited (in the looks department) person, but she knew she was pretty. But now, she had a huge gash running down the side of her face. It wasn't bleeding so badly anymore, but it was the most hideous wound she's ever gotten.

"This is one of the visions isn't it?"

"Yeah, but it's not in the right order. So, it's possible that one of them hasn't actually been fulfilled yet. But it's more likely to come true now."

Buffy didn't know what to say. How could Willow do this to her? The magic in her was to blame, but it was still Willow.

"The others are seeing if there's a way to fix this, but…"

"It's dark magic and likely permanent. I know."

"It's possible that-"

"That's the second time you've said 'it's possible'. You've never sugarcoated things with me Faith- actually you never do that for anyone." Buffy gave a slight smile.

Faith sighed. Buffy was right, but truth be told, she was actually worried about her friend. "I'm sorry. This could just… actually get bad. You can take an army of super vamps, but this kind of magic, I mean, you can't fight it, B."

"Yeah, that's what scares me."

"If this gets worked out, and Willow's all back to normal, then she's probably the only one who can take that scar off- if it's possible." Faith grinned.

The twosome started laughing, but it didn't last long.

"How noticeable is this gonna be?"

"It won't be as bad when it's healed, but don't worry, your vamp boy won't care."

Buffy's face turned red. "I-I… I didn't, I mean…"

"Christ, B, are you blushing?"

"No! Shut up! Have you talked to Robin yet?"

"No way. You can't flip the tables like that."

"I just did."

"Whatever, at least I don't get all thirteen year old with a crush like you do." And with that Faith walked out of the bathroom.

"Do not!"

Meanwhile, the others had been searching for information on dark magic wounds. Basically, the gash was a physical embodiment of Willow's magic that pierced Buffy. All their information came down to the fact that the only person who could remove the magic, and therefore removing the injury, was Willow. But they didn't know that Buffy and Faith already knew this.

"I can't believe Willow did that to her." Xander said softly.

"I can. Remember the car accident she got me in. It's not really Willow, but it's hard to separate her and the magic, you know." Dawn wasn't sure if they could bring Willow back this time. She wouldn't speak these words out loud, though.

"I remember when I thought it'd be cool to see her like that", Kennedy said, "but that wasn't very cool after all."

Spike was lost in his own thoughts. The vision of Buffy and those eyes plagued his mind. While he didn't want to be a complete pessimist, it was hard not to think that all those visions were going to come true.

For the few days that the two women had been back, Faith was desperately avoiding Robin. Before she left they had an okay relationship. Robin always tried to get more serious, and Faith would end it, but they couldn't stay apart for long. When she came back she felt a wave of guilt for leaving him, and therefore she dodged any chance of being alone with him.

But as she was walking out of the bathroom, Robin cornered her.

"Faith."

"Yeah?" She hadn't been this out of her element in a long time.

"How've you been?"

"Keen as a peach. You?" She was very uncomfortable and nervous, but she tried to play it off like she was totally fine.

"Not much has changed with me, Faith."

She just nodded.

"I actually thought you'd come back on your own." He seemed to be mad at himself for believing that.

"I might've eventually."

"Right." He said with a self-deprecating laugh. "It's nice seeing you again, Faith." And with that he was gone.

Why couldn't she open up anymore? She had real feelings for him, but those two years apart ruined their relationship.

Buffy, who stayed in the bathroom to regain her composure, heard the interaction between Robin and Faith.

"You okay?" Buffy was standing there putting pressure on the bandages on her face.

Faith was still standing in the same spot. "Yeah, five-by-five." She managed to force a smile out, but it was more for her own benefit. Buffy saw right through it.

"Just give it time."

"No, it's over."

There was nothing to be said. Buffy put her free arm around Faith. "Let's go. The others are waiting."

They walked out into the library. No one said anything, but they just stared at Buffy. She felt very uncomfortable.

"Jesus people, stop staring at her like that." Faith was in no mood to deal with anyone right now.

"Yes, Faith is right. How are you, Buffy?" Giles asked as he moved over to her.

"I'm fine. Really, Giles, I'm okay. I'm more concerned about our next move, though."

Andrew rushed into the room. "Uh, Mr. Giles, there's something that I need to tell you."

"It can wait, Andrew."

"Actually-"

"He said it can wait, shrimp." Faith gave him a deadly stare, but really she was just messing with the kid.

Andrew didn't know what to do so he went and sat down with the others while avoiding Faith's glare the whole time.

"Honestly, I'm not sure what our next effort should be. Willow appears to be more powerful than ever before. We have no clue how to stop her this time, nor did we last time actually, but we need to figure out what her motivations are."

Xander spoke up. "Motivations?"

"Yes, when she gave in to the magic last time it was because of Tara's death. But no one has died this time."

"Yeah, but we all left each other. Isn't that motivating enough?" Xander felt horrible. He abandoned his best friend of his entire life, and now she was gone.

"I don't think so. There has to have been a major event in order for her to lose control like this."

How were they supposed to know what had gone on in Willow's life for the past two years? They didn't even know how long she had been back as dark Willow.

"I can't believe we let this happen." In the deafening, guilt laden silence, Buffy's words echoed the original Scoobies' thoughts.

And even though she technically hadn't done anything wrong, she decided to apologize. "I'm sorry. If I hadn't left then this might not have happened."

"Buff, don't take the blame for this. Things were really bad back then. Someone would've left eventually. Or we would've ended up killing each other." Xander said with a small smile, earning a laugh from Buffy. Even though the joke hit a little too close to home at the moment, it brought some much needed warmth.

"Yeah, you're right. We would've reached a breaking point one way or another. But we all have to come back together. This avoiding, awkward thing needs to stop. I don't know how we're gonna do that, but we have to make it work."

She was slowly getting back to the speech-making leader that they all (usually) willingly followed.

"A lot of our relationships have been damaged", as she said this she looked at Giles, "and it's gonna take a lot to repair them, but it's worth it. We've all changed somehow, and now we have to put it all behind us in order to fix this."

Everyone nodded in unison, but Giles moved closer to Buffy. "You're very right, Buffy. I'd just like to say-"

Before he could finish his thought, Buffy hugged him. She didn't care anymore about the things she thought they needed to discuss. Her time away was liberating and it was needed, but she missed all the people who surrounded her.

Giles hugged her right back. He enjoyed the new slayers, but she was the only slayer in his eyes, and she was more than that to him.

After a minute they both pulled away. Now Buffy didn't know what to say, so she was just standing there.

"I thought you said the, uh, 'awkward thing' needed to stop?"

She broke into a grin, "Right, I did. I missed you Giles, and I forgive you for everything," a soft "I don't" could be heard from Spike in the background, but it went ignored, "if you can forgive me for everything."

"There's nothing for me to forgive, Buffy."

After Giles and Buffy's reunion, everyone else started to actually talk to each other. Xander and Buffy hugged and, although it may seem like minimal work, this whole event mended their relationships.

Now the Scooby gang was truly reunited and ready to work towards bringing back their lost friend.


	16. Losers' Revenge

I really love the reviews you guys give, they're so amazing! Anyway, I feel iffy about this chapter, it's needed as a setup, but I just don't know... I felt like the L.A. thing had to be addressed. I doubt that an army of demons, not to mention a dragon, could go unnoticed (although I'm sure that maybe some spell could've hidden it or something like that, but that's not very exciting), so I thought a slight conspiracy theory might be fun! Yay? Nay? If you don't like it just ignore it, it's not that important to the story (I think). To make up for this possibly disappointing chapter I'm putting another one up along with it. So read on! And let me know what you think please!

16. Losers' Revenge

Los Angeles had been quarantined. When the senior partners unleashed hell on earth in the city, it did not go unnoticed by the ordinary citizens. Many videos were taken of the creatures that invaded and then posted online or sent out to friends. But the government stepped in before there was a widespread panic: Apparently it was all a big hoax. The videos were fake images because of course demons aren't real; the government blamed a virus that temporarily made everyone in L.A. go insane and therefore they attacked each other, set fires, looted- basically, they destroyed the city. And since most of the inhabitants of L.A. were victims to the demons that appeared, there were very few people alive who were able to deny the explanation.

The public still found the whole story to be fishy because there were no reports of this sickness, but what's easier to accept? Dragons actually existing or a deadly disease?

The government secretly had workers in hazmat suits enter the confined city to remove the bodies of the mythical creatures that covered it. Who knows what they did with them.

Since the "incident", the city has not been rebuilt, but two years later there are still people who are trying to get permission to start the reconstruction of it. Of course, they don't know that the government will not allow any regular citizen near the site until they can fully inspect it, and there's no telling how long that could be.

While no one unofficial was allowed in the city, there were secretly three individuals still dwelling there. They were sly enough to go undetected as they tried to put L.A. back as the prominent city it once was.

But that's only what's been happening above ground. Below it, well, that's a different story.

The senior partners obviously didn't strike again. They needed an unbeatable attack so they held off and started to plot. After a year or so, they started acting on it.

They created more associates to do their work on the ground. People, if they can be called that, like Marcus Hamilton. They were strong and smart, but this time they were just pawns in a much larger game. They were disposable.

Underneath the surface of L.A., there were cells with girls trapped in them. They had no escape. There were rooms with girls chained to the wall or the ground, beaten and bloodied, left there to suffer.

They were all a part of the senior partner's master plan, one that would end in an apocalypse.

And even if they get defeated again, which they highly doubted, they have a backup in the witch. A ticking time bomb she is, and the senior partners are counting on that.

They know they are unbeatable. Buffy and the rest of those inadequate "heroes" don't stand a chance in their eyes.

And honestly, the senior partners do have the upper hand for now. But the Scoobies always put up a fight. Unfortunately, the senior partners aren't even on their radar.

It's all about Willow for now.


	17. Searching for the Wrong Answer

So this is obviously the other chapter I'm putting up. I was thinking about my timeline (which fits together, it really does!) but in Willow's flashbacks when it says two years it's really around a year and a half. But for consistency's sake I'm just going to stick with two years. And odds are you probably didn't even think about that until I pointed it out *sigh* Well, enjoy this Willow chapter with an old character, and I'm not really sure if I captured his voice well, but I did my best! Read and review!

17. Searching for the Wrong Answer

Sometime around two years ago:

Where was she supposed to start?

There were the visions and the old woman, but the woman was gone and the visions were just a memory in Willow's mind now.

There was L.A. She was one of the people who knew that the videos of those demons were real. No fire was to blame for the death of the city. There was a chance that she could find out about that, but from whom? If she went to Angel then he would be aware of her task, which he certainly wouldn't keep secret.

There had to be someone alive who was connected to that event. Who worked with Angel? She listed the names in her head. Fred, Wesley, Gunn, Cordy, Lorne… She needed to do some research and find them. Certainly one of them would talk.

She did some hacking, and the information she found out shook her to the core.

First she had to find out if they had survived the attacks, so she searched the death records that were taken afterwards. Wesley and Gunn's names appeared in the list.

As if that wasn't enough, she later found Cordelia's name in an obituary that appeared in a newspaper sometime before the L.A. apocalypse.

She and Cordelia never really got along, but Willow had many memories that featured her, good and bad. This was a lot to take in at once. She may not have known Wesley and Gunn on a more personal level, but they were some of the good guys.

From this research she concluded that the only survivors were Angel, Lorne, and Fred.

She had already ruled out Angel, but she could approach Fred. She liked the woman, and she seemed very smart. There was a good possibility that she would help Willow without letting anyone else know. But, first Willow had to find out where Fred was.

After gathering the correct ingredients, Willow started a location spell. These things were a piece of cake for her.

After repeating some incantation over a map of the world, she waited for a light to appear on it. But nothing happened. She was certain that Fred was alive, and therefore the spell would've located her soul, but the spell didn't do what it was supposed to.

It was very odd. Instead of trying it again, Willow decided to search for Lorne. They would all probably be together, right? Considering that Lorne was a demon, she had to switch some ingredients in the spell.

Then a light appeared in New York City. Now she had her location. Willow bought a plane ticket for New York and flew out the next day.

After arriving in New York, Willow performed a more specific location spell on Lorne which led her to a dingy bar. The closer she got to the place, the more afraid she felt. Even though she's more powerful than anyone could ever guess, this area still gave her the wiggins.

She could smell the dank stench of the bar from five feet away. What on earth would Lorne be doing here?

The place was half-full (or maybe that's half-empty?) with the main patrons being demons. It was very easy to spot a bright green man from the crowd.

As Willow walked up to him, Lorne gave her a curious look and then broke into a big grin.

"Well, what a surprise. Willow! How are you sweet cheeks? I doubt this is a coincidence, unless you like hanging out with the low-lifes here."

She chuckled nervously, "Umm, no. Actually, I am here to see you, but this doesn't really seem like your type of place. Not that it's a bad place or anything, but-"

Lorne held up his hand in a reassuring gesture. "It's true, I'm usually a frequenter of the more hip and stylin' scenes, but when I feel like drowning in the past this place doesn't ask anything of me except that I buy a drink or five."

"Oh, yeah, I just found out about Gunn and Wesley, and Cordy, too. I'm sorry that happened to them, they were good people." Lorne nodded his head and raised his drink in a toast. "But, speaking of them, where's Angel and Fred?"

Lorne seemed very surprised by this question. "Aw, sweetie, I'm sorry you came all this way, but they're not here… You don't know about Fred, do you?"

He was giving her a sympathetic look, and this made Willow incredibly nervous.

"What do you mean 'what about Fred'?" Deep down Willow knew though. It made sense now, why she couldn't be located.

"Something infected her, a demon, and it took over her body, pushed her out. We couldn't save her." Lorne seemed to be in so much pain when talking about her.

"Oh… Wow, I- I didn't know… So only you and Angel made it then, huh?"

"Well, I actually left before everything went down, I wasn't made to fight. People like Angel and Spike can thrive on it, though. So I knew they'd be A-Okay."

Willow nodded her head in agreement until she realized exactly what Lorne had said. "Wait, what? Spike?"

Lorne eyed her questioningly, "Don't take this the wrong way, hun, but you don't know about anything do you?"

She merely shook her head. "That's what I came here to talk to you about. I need to know what happened."

"Well then have a drink because it's gonna be a long story."

He started off by telling her about Wolfram & Hart, and ones in control, the senior partners. Then he explained Spike's resurrection.

"Spike was a ghost?" Willow tried to keep from laughing.

But Lorne went on with his story, and he skipped to the part about Fred. He hadn't spoken about that in a long time and it was hard for him.

Willow let him speak even though all she really wanted to hear about was the last hours of L.A. and what caused that to happen.

He explained about The Circle of the Black Thorn and Angel's intentional deception.

"So, Angel decides that we're gonna take out the members of the Black Thorn. I thought he had lost his mind, but we went through with it anyway. And that really didn't flow with the senior partners, so to punish us for murdering their little secret society they decide to send an army of demons to kill us."

Willow thought about that for a minute. Her suspicion about the L.A. incident had only increased now. And although she has to evidence to prove that it's somehow connected to those visions, her instincts were telling her that it was. And if it doesn't pan out, well then she eliminated one of her leads, well, her only lead actually…

"These senior partners… Where are they? What are they?"

He shrugged and took another drink. "Demons, they used to be here on Earth, but they left for another dimension."

"And they let Angel and Spike walk away, just like that?"

Lorne just shrugged again. "I would never presume to know what the senior partners think or do. That's somewhere that's even too crazy for me."

Willow needed to find someone with more information about them and soon. The only problem was that she had absolutely nothing to go on.

Lorne sobered up a bit briefly to inspect Willow a little better. There was something about her aura that started to make him uneasy.

"Say, darling, how about you play me a little tune?"

She was caught off guard, "Huh?"

"Sing. Sing for me."

Panic immediately spread throughout her. "Oh! Oh, no! No. I- I'm a terrible singer, really! I can't sing."

"Sure you can. Trust me; I already know you won't be the worst I've ever heard."

She shook her head emphatically.

"Come on, it won't be that bad."

She shook her head more slowly and looked at Lorne with pleading eyes, but he still urged her on.

"Um… okay," she said with a sigh.

First, she had to pick a song. When she finally decided what to sing, she cleared her throat, and then took a deep breath to calm her nerves.

"I'm under your spell

How else could it be

Anyone would notice me?"

All it took were those few little lines for Lorne to read Willow and see her future. What was he supposed to say to her? The longer he was silent, the more afraid Willow became.

"Uh, Lorne? Is something wrong?"

"Listen, Willow, whatever it is that you're doing or going to do, take my advice: Don't."

"I- I don't understand. What did you see?" Now she was truly scared.

"It's bad, and a lot of people are gonna get hurt."

"What? What am I gonna do, Lorne? What are you talking about?" Why wouldn't he just answer her?

Lorne simply looked at her, "I think you already know."

It was a thought that she hadn't let herself fully think about- that all the destruction and death in those visions were at her hand.

She had never felt so alone and frightened. What was she supposed to do? She got up off the barstool and ran outside.

"Hey! Wait! Where are you going?" Lorne called after her, but it was a lost cause.

She ran into an alleyway close by. Leaning against the wall, Willow was trying to hold herself together. She didn't want any of it to happen, and she certainly didn't want to be the cause of it. Willow realized that her face felt wet, and as she reached up to wipe her face off, it hit her that she was crying. And then she couldn't stop. It wasn't only because of the past few days. She'd been holding this in since Sunnydale happened. But, really, did she have to have her breakdown here?

People passed by the alleyway and stared at her. Her soft crying turned into heaving sobs. Eventually she was choking because she couldn't breathe. It was a combination of pain, anger, loneliness, and utter confusion that brought her to this point. After about five minutes, she gained back control of herself and started to think. What was her next step? Should she even have a next step?

After a few deep breaths, she tried to organize the situation in her head. "Okay… If I were to go on living my life as it is, then maybe none of that will come true. Or maybe it's inevitable…" She sighed in frustration, "Even if I wanted to do something about it, I can't. I'm completely clueless. And also, now you're talking to yourself, Willow." She leaned her head against the wall and sighed. There was so much work to do.

But before she could do anything else, Willow really needed to take a shower.


	18. Always Listen to the Shrimp

Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed my little story! So, not much is going on at the Scooby camp which is why this chapter is so short (and it's also kind of another setup chapter, or a continuation of a previous setup chapter), but enjoy it anyway!

18. Always Listen to the Shrimp

After the little pow-wow last night, everyone started to feel a little better. And after a good night's sleep they gathered in the morning to discuss Willow.

"Good morning, everyone." Giles was standing at the front of the table, all eyes on him. "Now I know that yesterday was, uh, upsetting to say the least, but we have to move past it and focus on saving Willow."

Buffy's face was still bandaged, but the pain wasn't as present today. She hadn't looked at it since. Faith was changing the bandages for her. As usual, she wouldn't let anyone see how much the attack affected her. She was honestly terrified. There was no way she would stand a chance against Willow if it came down to a fight.

Even though they were apart for two years, Dawn still saw right through her sister's front. So she decided to take the lead for Buffy today, "But, how are we supposed to do that?"

Giles was silent. He didn't know the answer to that. "My personal opinion is that the only way Willow will return is if she chooses to. But we have to somehow convince her to return, and it won't be as easy as last time."

"Hey," Xander objected, "that was actually very challenging and painful in certain moments where she, you know, attacked me with dark magic! Not to mention the fact that the fate of the world depended on me..."

"Yes, I apologize, Xander, you're right. That was very brave, but my point is that this time she'll see right through any emotional attempt to reach her."

A young slayer walked into the meeting. "Mr. Andrew, it's happened again." Andrew looked very alarmed.

But Giles had no idea what she was talking about. "Andrew, what's happened again?"

He cleared his throat. "Well, that's what I've been trying to tell you."

Puzzled faces all looked in Andrew's direction. He stood up in a dramatic effect, but the nervousness in his voice ruined it, "Well, as you know, we've located thousands of activated slayers all over the globe, and with that amount it takes quite a while to bring them back here, and especially when considering the number of people we have here to do that. So when we actually get around to retrieving some slayers, we find out that they aren't there anymore." His voice was very quiet at the end.

Giles started to clean his glasses, "What do you mean 'they aren't there anymore'?"

"Well, umm, when we get to the location that they should be at, we find out that they're gone. We've been told several times by either family members or friends that someone else already came for them and brought them back to England. The witches have done spells to find out if the slayers were actually brought here, but that must've been a lie."

In his own defense, he had tried to tell Giles a few times earlier. And now he was afraid that he might have to face Giles' wrath.

"So, Andrew, you're telling me that slayers have been disappearing and we have no idea where they are?"

Andrew nodded his head, trying not to panic, but he couldn't control himself. "I tried to tell you!"

Giles silenced him before Andrew got the chance to defend himself more, "Yes, I know you did, I should've listened." He did wish the boy had made more of an effort, though.

Giles didn't say anything for a while.

"Uh, Mr. Giles, what are we supposed to do?" Andrew may have been in charge of finding the newly activated slayers that kept popping up, but this was a very different situation now.

Giles thought about this. There was too much going on for them to handle. "I'm assuming that you questioned the family members of the slayers?"

Andrew nodded.

"Alright then, gather up as much information as you can about the person, or persons, who came for the slayers: what they looked like, what they said to them, and we'll go from there." There was too much going on.

Andrew nodded again and left the room

"Giles, what the hell is going on? First Willow and now missing slayers?" Buffy was wondering if maybe the two were connected.

Giles had already thought of that. "I doubt that they are connected. Willow wouldn't need slayers, she has enough power and she is fully aware of that. As of now she should still be our main focus."

"Okay, so what's making Willow do this again?"

Only silence greeted that question.


	19. Discovering That Within

Hey everyone! I meant to put this chapter up earlier, but it kind of turned into a monster of a chapter, and then I put it up, but I had to go back and fix a few things. So, now it's done :) Enjoy! R&R please!

19. Discovering That Within

Willow's story continued:

Showers are supposed to cleanse you, but Willow didn't feel any better.

Yeah, she had killed a man, but if all this came true then there would be a massacre, a vast bloodbath. She couldn't live with all of those lives on her hands.

Her only lead was these senior partners. Maybe if she hadn't ran off then she could've asked Lorne more about them or he could've pointed her in the direction of someone who did know. But she had panicked. And now she was too scared to go back and see him.

What was a witch to do?

She needed someone who knew about the senior partners, and she needed that someone ASAP. There were other Wolfram & Hart branches, but it wouldn't be very smart to walk into the place and start asking questions. No, she needed to remain anonymous, and what's the best way to talk to people and remain anonymous? She had her start, and luckily it was a place where she was very accomplished.

She logged on to her computer and got on the internet. It's too bad there isn't some senior partners Wikipedia or something, Willow thought. "That's just too bad for me," she muttered.

Her bright idea had only led her as far as the internet; it didn't cover what to do after that. There were many supernatural websites, and those who were not in the supernatural realm considered them a joke, but Willow was aware that those who ran the sites knew what they were talking about.

There was a woman who ran a site on other dimensions. That could be a good way to start. Considering that Willow was kind of an internet celebrity when it came to this area, a fake username was most definitely called for.

She sent an email directly to the moderator, who used a fake name for her site, first asking if she knew anything about the senior partners of Wolfram & Hart.

Instead of just sitting around waiting, she took out the books she brought with her. They were mostly about magical gods, the beginning of evil, and ancient spells. She had found these books on the internet and in Japan…and a couple may have been Giles', but he didn't really need them, did he? There could be a mention of the senior partners in them; she'd take anything she could get.

Days went by. Willow was barely sleeping or eating. All her energy went into researching the partners. The woman still hadn't emailed her back yet, and the books were coming up empty. Then finally when she checked her email for the hundredth time that day, there was an email from the woman. It read:

"The senior partners are a dangerous topic to discuss. I have debated about replying to your email for days. I know some things about them, and I suppose it could be useful information. I'd give it to you freely…if I knew who you were, that is."

Willow scoffed, "Well, way to be a tease." She quickly replied, indicating how urgent this was, but also that she could not reveal herself. She urged the woman to trust her and repeated the importance of the matter. Willow hope the woman would believe her.

It was another few days before Willow received an email back from the woman. She was very cautious about giving out this information to Willow. Her reply read, "If you truly wish to know about the senior partners then we must meet in person. There have to be certain reasons for inquiring about them, and your intentions must be clear. Lucky for you, I am in New York. Be at Mel's Laundromat, two days from now, ten o' clock at night."

How did this woman know where Willow was? Something was very fishy about this now. And why a laundromat? There was no reason to reply because they both knew Willow would show up. But what if this woman somehow found out about what could happen in the future? Would she still give up the information? This was Willow's only source, so it had to work out.

She was pretty sure that she was having a panic attack, but fortunately, it didn't last long. It'll all be okay, she convinced herself.

Two days later, Willow left her motel room for Mel's Laundromat. It was in a pretty shabby part of town, but there was no one around that Willow could see.

The place was eerie. It was completely vacant, and the buzzing, fluorescent lights made Willow's skin crawl.

"Hello?" She called out.

There was no answer. This was very creepy.

"Hello?" She called a little louder.

A door opened loudly, causing Willow to jump.

She laughed nervously, "Oh my goddess, you scared me." She said to the woman who was standing at a door, "Umm, are you the woman that I've been in contact with?"

The woman just stood there, and Willow suddenly felt something odd about her, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Then the woman motioned for Willow to come over with her index finger.

Willow paused, but honestly, what else was there to do? She carefully moved towards the back room. Once she stepped through the doorway it was like she had entered a completely different place. There was a strong smell of incense that was almost overpowering, and the room was dark and there were crystals, candles, and magical ingredients spread out all over the room.

"What is this place?"

The woman turned around to face Willow, and that's when she realized what was odd about the woman.

"Wait a minute, I know you! It was you! You were the one in my apartment, with the visions!"

She just slowly nodded, "And I told you to work alone."

"B-But, I am. I mean, I have to start from somewhere, and I don't know anything, so I had to go to you."

The woman gave her a saddened look. "You are one of the most powerful witches in existence, and you have no idea what you are capable of. What a shame, I chose you because I thought you could do this."

Willow was very confused. "I know what I'm capable of, and it's not good. It's bad. It's death and pain. You chose the wrong person."

"No, I didn't. You just need to understand-"

"No, I understand perfectly. I am going to cause mass destruction over the planet. I'm going to harm my best friend- or, she was my best friend." Willow sighed in frustration, "Whatever, find someone else." She said in an unusually serious tone.

"Can you honestly walk out of here- turn your back on the world? When you know that you have the potential to save it?"

"But I don't know how to do that!" She was yelling at the woman now.

"That's why I'm here." The woman took a seat at the table.

Willow eyed her suspiciously. "This isn't a coincidence, is it? Me emailing you?"

"No. It seemed like something you would do. Honestly you're too predictable at this point."

Willow was trying to remain calm. "Okay, then, so why don't you tell me what I'm supposed to do now, like you should've before when you gave me the visions."

"Well at the time I thought you were capable of figuring it out on your own." The woman shrugged.

If she insults me one more time, Willow thought. She was grinding her teeth so hard that her jaw hurt.

"Relax, it's nothing to be embarrassed about. You would've eventually, but there's not enough time for that. At least you made the connection to the senior partners. You're wondering what exactly you're supposed to do now, am I correct?"

Willow only nodded her head.

"As I said, you're an incredibly powerful witch, but honestly, in this state you're weaker."

"What state?"

The woman's hand gestured to Willow. She looked down at herself. "I don't understand."

"You. Like this. You don't have the needed amount of power when you are cutting off your true source."

"My true source?" Willow was not getting what the woman was trying to tell her.

"You do remember that you have a much more powerful side to you, but you hide it, you cage it up inside you." The woman was talking to her life she was a child.

Willow finally realized what the woman was getting at. She started shaking her head immediately, and her eyes widened like never before. "No! Oh, no, no, no! I can't, I won't! You have no idea how dangerous that is." Her breathing had become erratic. Just thinking about it scared her.

"Of course I do, but that's why you learn to control yourself."

Willow laughed cynically, "There's no such thing as control when I'm like that."

"How do you know that? The last and only time you assented to your true power was in a condition of grief and anger, but there's none of that now, is there?"

Unfortunately, that made sense to Willow. She wanted to argue every point the woman made, but she couldn't on this one. "It could still be dangerous."

"Well, only time will tell."

Willow gaped; this woman just assumed that Willow would do this. She didn't care that people could die. "Whose side are you on?"

"What an immature question. There are no defined sides in this, and necessary evils are, well, necessary."

Willow still didn't know what to believe, "If you expect anything from me, then you better be honest with me. Tell me who you are and why you're doing this."

"My name is not important and I just want to live."

Willow didn't buy it. "That's it? You're just an activist for the greater good?"

She didn't answer the question. "We're wasting time. When you accepted your power before, how did you do it?"

"You mean you don't know?" Willow was not a happy camper right now.

The woman glanced at her, then got up and brought a pile of books over to Willow. "Books, your emotions. That's how you did it. The knowledge that you gained from those books is still in you. This will give you more."

The woman nodded her head in an encouraging gesture.

"No. I'm not doing this. You haven't even told me anything yet and that was the whole point of this meeting, remember?"

The woman sighed. "I didn't realize you would be this difficult."

"Well, why should I believe you?"

"Will you really sit back and watch, knowing that you could've prevented all that death and destruction?"

"So those visions won't come true if I do this?"

"Not if you stop what's happening."

That was all Willow wanted. She didn't want to see or cause that death, and she definitely did not want to go up against Buffy. Maybe that's what Lorne saw, or maybe he just saw the evil witch. She should've found out, but what if's were no use to her now.

"Why do I need to give in to this?"

"It's not giving in, it's moving up," the woman stared at Willow for a few seconds, "but if that's how you decide to view it… The senior partners are planning an apocalypse by combining all the dimensions here on Earth. The dimensional walls are slowly cracking. You need to repair them and keep them up."

Willow had never been so torn in her life. Was she willing to destroy herself to save the world? "But, I don't know how to do that."

"You'll figure it out, I assure you."

"So I just have to keep them up? That's it?"

"Well, it won't be that easy, but yes, that's it. And you can't tell them what you're doing."

"Why not?"

"Do you honestly believe that they would let you do this? They don't understand your power, just as you don't. They're scared of it. But with this, you can show them differently."

She couldn't believe she was actually considering this, but she couldn't let this happen. "So all I have to do is hold these walls up?"

The woman nodded her head.

"What if I can't control myself?"

"Doubting yourself won't help your cause."

Willow paused. Could she really do this? Did she really have a choice? Before she knew what she was doing, her hands were on the books, absorbing their knowledge. Her hair slowly changed from her natural red to the darkest shade of black possible, her eyes lost the soul behind them, and lastly, the veins appeared. When the process was over, Willow looked around at her surroundings. It was like she had a completely new perspective on the world. There was no urge to kill anyone or destroy the world, but there was definitely more of a dangerous side present. Who knew what she was capable of now.

The woman came over to her. "Can you feel it?"

Willow eyed her suspiciously, "Yes, there's so much pressure. But I can fix that." She said, her voice now possessing a deadly undertone to it.

The woman smiled. "Good. Don't wear yourself out though."

"Don't worry, I've learned from that mistake." Willow headed for the exit to the Laundromat.

"Where will you go?"

Willow turned around slowly, "I'll be around…"

While she walked back to her motel, she passed a few people who looked truly terrified of her. She paid them no attention, though.

As she entered her room, her mind was wandering. There was so much to do. She could feel the pressure, but she wasn't powerful enough to start repairing the walls.

She paced across the floor. When she was sent to England after trying to destroy the world, Willow was taught to draw from the Earth. That's what she would do. Instead of completely submerging herself in dark magic, it would be better to draw power from a more natural place.

Over the next year, Willow slowly gained more power from the Earth and used it to repair the walls. It was a struggle though, and it was slowly draining her. She'd repair some, and then the senior partners would tear some more down. The sane part of her refused to exert more power, but the darkness pushed through sometimes and took control. She would be worn out and was forced to rely more heavily on the planet for support. It was very risky, but she had no other choice.

She had also learned a few things. Things that were able to scare her, the most powerful witch in the entire world, because this battle between her and the senior partners couldn't go on forever. She was very unsure about how it would all end. Not to mention the fact that the Earth was in a downward spiral, environmentally. Willow had no idea if she was the one causing this to happen, but she wouldn't let herself think about that because she was doing the right thing, wasn't she?

She had been keeping a tab on everyone from the past. She needed to make sure that they wouldn't end up getting in the way, but Willow noticed that what she saw looked very familiar. Some of the visions were playing out. But the woman had told her differently. She silently cursed her weaker self for believing that.

But this wasn't all bad. The next visions could still be prevented and Willow was secretly counting on the Scoobies to find a way to destroy the senior partners. Willow could do it, but she can't leave this dimension. She is the only thing standing between Earth and the senior partners. She was buying the Scoobies time, hopefully they wouldn't fail her.

It was a few months later, she had been back in Japan for quite a while now, and the Scoobies were not getting anywhere. Willow's frustration with them was increasing by the hour. If they didn't start using their brains soon then Willow was going to have to show up and help them, much to her dismay.

So days later, when her old friends had finally reunited (she had expected this to happen much earlier), Willow showed up to push them in the right direction. With her increasing power, she gained some new abilities, so she just transported herself onto the mansion's grounds. It may take a little longer than teleporting, but that didn't really matter.

She knew early on how this scene would play out. She almost pitied them for being so predictable.

But the scene did not play out how she imagined. Immediately after she struck Buffy, a wave of shock and guilt spread over her, but this was a weakness, an opening where she could slip out of her power, and that couldn't happen. So she left, without giving them any direction.

She went back to Japan. Thinking about the senior partners, the unknown woman, and Willow's own role in this oncoming apocalypse only confused her. She didn't know what was true and what was a lie. It was best to not think about it because she had to believe that she was helping, not hurting.

Meanwhile, the senior partners were very frustrated. They were getting nowhere in their revenge. So, they decided to increase the pressure on the witch. Thankfully, for them, anything that happens will be blamed on her by the Scoobies, especially now. Having a scapegoat was very underrated sometimes.

Willow was sitting in her apartment reading an ancient text when she felt it. It was like the air around her got tighter, like it was being pushed. This would call for a lot of energy. As Willow closed her eyes and using her magic to push back and repair what had been damaged, she struggled. It was almost too much for her to handle. She drew more energy from nature, but she still needed so much more. When she felt powerful enough, she pushed back with much more force than she normally uses, causing her to fall over on the couch. She was out of breath and energy.

Willow was more worried than usual. She took in an incredible amount of energy from the Earth, more than she should have. And now she got the feeling that the senior partners had a new agenda: To push her to the brink. They knew what she was up to, and they were fighting back. She sat up and put her head in her hands. What had she gotten herself into?

The next day, after some much needed rest, Willow was checking the news online when she saw countless headlines about disasters everywhere. There had been hurricanes, tornados, and earthquakes. Some coastal lands had crumbled, and the areas were now flooded. It was estimated that millions were dead across the globe.

Willow was horrified. Had she really done this? But, honestly, what else could cause something like this? The visions were coming true even though they weren't supposed to.

Willow was trying to save the world, but was she really destroying it instead?

So, first of all I hope you liked this chapter. Second, I hope Willow's decision seemed logical of her, I mean, the Scoobies are always taking on crazy challenges, and I think Willow's changed a lot as a person in this story. But anyway, all the timelines are at the same place, so now the story will start to progress more :)


	20. Hidden Opposition

I can't control my love of weird little chapters, so here's another one! But, don't worry, the next chapter isn't like this. Actually, the Scoobies are in for a little surprise during the next chapter, so it will certainly be interesting, and maybe there'll some nice Buffy and Spike moments if you read & review... Well, enjoy!

20. Hidden Opposition

They were tired of fighting with her; this back and forth battle.

The senior partners decided to up the ante and see how it would play out, and they were very entertained with the results. Not only had they succeeded in challenging the witch, but she had managed to kill millions of people. Things were playing out beautifully for them. The Scoobies were still clueless, and it looked like the world would get destroyed one way or another.

Back in L.A., the senior partner's creations, their associates, were building up their Earth-bound army. Even though it was Angel who the partners were retaliating against, they had to also take out his allies, but said allies had quite an advantage. They had slayers, tons of them, and untrained or not, a slayer was dangerous.

There were many reasons for attacking Buffy and the rest of her defenders: The senior partners needed to make sure they stayed away from Willow, so that they wouldn't bring her out of this phase, and they also couldn't let the Scoobies find out too much information about their plans, but, honestly, there was always a valid reason to take some heroes down a peg or two.

When Buffy and Willow activated all the potential slayers, the senior partners started to care less and less about this dimension. Evil is their business, and slayers wipe out evil. Now, things would eventually blow over if they were to assassinate all the slayers and their allies, but with the recent event in L.A., which proved that all those mythical creatures actually exist, makes it certain that things will never be the same, so it would be pointless to do so. Destroying the world is actually the easiest option. Wolfram & Hart isn't just limited to a few dimensions, so there's profit to be made in Earth's demise.

To fight slayers, you have to have equal, or more, power. Creating too many associates would decrease their value (business is still business), but there was already an abundance of slayers. For about a year, the senior partners had been sending their few associates to capture as many slayers as possible without alerting the good guys, but they had very recently been detected. It was too late though, because they had accumulated several hundred slayers. There had been so many that the Scoobies couldn't keep track of them, and therein laid the senior partners advantage.

Currently, these girls were being kept in the underground of L.A., where they were subjected to brainwashing, torture, and eventually when they had been conditioned, training. The associates' jobs were to convince their slayers that Buffy was the enemy, that she would force them to sacrifice their lives and kill innocent beings. They made her out to be a monster, even though it was the senior partners who were keeping them locked in small crowded cells and starving them. They managed to have success in every slayer though, and luckily, this part of their plan has managed to remain a secret from the other two sides involved in this battle.

And hopefully, for them, it stays that way.


	21. When Two Become One

So, let me start out by saying that I lied. I know I said that in this chapter the Scoobies were in for a surprise, and I did mean that at the time, but things change, you know. That'll happen in the next chapter though, seriously, it will. But this changed into a Spike and Buffy chapter, which I thought was kinda needed, this being a Buffy and Spike story and all. So I hope this is the right amount of romance and bickering when you consider the current context of their relationship. Also, if by any chance the title of this chapter gets an old Spice Girls' song stuck in your head, well, you're welcome, if you like the Spice Girls that is, otherwise I'm sorry :) Well, read and review, and the next chapter will really get the ball rolling, k? Enjoy!

21. When Two Become One

Buffy was standing in the bathroom, her hands gripping the sink. She was staring at herself in the mirror, praying for the courage to take the bandages off by herself. She had only looked at the wound once, and that was enough for her, but Buffy knew that eventually she would have to see it again. She couldn't do it though. After standing there for an hour, she couldn't find the strength to do it. A tear slowly rolled down her cheek.

She noticed that someone was standing in the doorway.

"Aren't slayers supposed to be brave, and…and strong, and… fearless?" She laughed bitterly.

"Hey now, luv, don't do this." Spike pulled her into his arms.

She let her guard down and hugged him back. After days and days of acting like she was fine, the façade was finally cracking.

She started crying harder than before. "I mean, I'm supposed to lead everyone, but I'm so scared, Spike. It's just a scar, but…Oh god, and all those people…"

When the Scoobies first saw the reports of the colossal damage all over the world, they all knew who caused it. There was no discussion about it, just a silent agreement.

"Shhh, luv, nothing else will happen to you."

"It's not me that I'm concerned about." There was a knock on Buffy's bedroom door. She wiped the tears off her face and went to answer it.

When she was out of the bathroom, Spike sighed and said softly, "That's what worries me, slayer."

It was Faith at door with new bandages for Buffy, but after seeing her red, puffy eyes, Faith said, "You okay?"

Buffy nodded her head, "Yeah, I'm fine."

Faith raised her eyebrows.

"Really, Faith, I'm okay."

Spike walked into the bedroom. He went and put his hand on Buffy's back, "We'll talk later, alright?" He phrased it as a question, but the look in his eyes said that is was more of a demand.

She gave him a curious look, "Yeah, sure."

He needed to make sure that Buffy wouldn't out herself in even more danger. He didn't care if she felt like it was her duty to.

"I could've come back," Faith said as she closed the door.

"Nah, it's no problem."

"Okay then, let's change this sucker."

Later that night Spike went and knocked on Buffy's door.

She answered it, fully knowing who was on the other side.

"Hey."

"Can I come in?" He had been acting unusually formal since Willow's attack on Buffy.

"Of course you can. Why are acting so weird around me, Spike?"

Spike quietly groaned. "I'm worried about you, Buffy."

She smiled fondly, "Don't be. I can deal with this, I'm the slayer."

"But that's exactly what I'm talking about. When-," Spike caught himself on that word, "If. If it comes down to it, you'll put your life in the bloody line, but you can't fight Red. She'll beat you, and I can't lose you again."

"I lost you too, you know." It was only fair that he be reminded of that.

"But that's my point!" Spike took a second to calm himself down. "Buffy, we're finally together-I mean, you know, uh, not together together, but just metaphorically speaking."

"Right, metaphorically," Buffy repeated.

They hadn't spoken about their relationship since Buffy confessed (again) that she loved him.

Now they were avoiding eye contact with each other. Finally, Spike looked at her and that stare of his compelled her to look back at him. "Just promise me that you won't do anything stupid, and by stupid I mean you going up against Willow."

"So that's what's been bothering you. The vision."

Spike paused, "It's all I can think about."

"Why didn't you talk to me about it? That's what we do, Spike, we talk about these things."

"'Cause, Buffy, I already know your answers. They're always the same."

For some reason his words hurt her. "That's because they're true and I mean them. I am the slayer. I don't care if there are hundreds or thousands more. I will do whatever I have to do, no matter the consequences." Why couldn't people understand that?

"Have you completely blocked out the last few weeks from your mind? How in the hell are you gonna go up against her, Buffy?"

"I don't know! I don't know, Spike. But if we can't bring her back, then I will. I'll have to."

"And that's it? You're just gonna accept that?"

"Yes! Of course I don't wanna die, but I can accept the fact that I'm gonna die if I have to. I know that's not what you wanna hear, but I promise that I won't face her unless it's absolutely necessary, that's the most I can give you."

"That's not good enough, Buffy." And with that, Spike walked out of her room.

Buffy collapsed on her bed. Maybe she handled that wrongly, but any other way would've been a lie. She wasn't even sure where this talk of her going up against Willow came from. How could she go up against her when Willow was nowhere to be found?

Spike couldn't understand how she could be so prepared to accept her own death, well actually, he could. His emotions were just getting in the way. Things were different now that they both loved each other, there was just more to lose. Situations like this were easier to deal with when she was denying her feelings for him. Not that he would ever trade her love for anything, though.

The next morning Buffy woke up feeling like she got absolutely no sleep. All night she could only think about her and Spike's argument. She and Spike never fought. Well, they did, but he usually always followed her around afterward, but he actually left last night… It's not like she could apologize, either.

This was the last thing she needed right now.

After showering, she went to the main part of the house to find the others. Even though they were in the middle of a crisis, things were relatively normal. The only research that could be conducted was concerning the recent disasters and the missing slayers. All they could do was wait for Willow's next move. Buffy felt sick just thinking about what that might include.

Slayers were busy being trained, Giles was taking care of business, and everyone else was off doing their own thing. Spike was nowhere to be found. Buffy wondered if maybe he was outside, but then she only felt like slapping herself. She really wasn't doing so well lately.

There was always a calm after the storm, but what came after the calm? Buffy's experience told her that things would go downhill, and that's what she was experiencing now. After Willow's attack, Buffy felt powerful and confident, like she was ready to take on the world, but those feelings transformed into fear and confusion.

Where was Faith when you needed her? Probably sleeping off a killer hangover, Buffy thought.

The seemingly never-ending library was partly occupied by a few slayers, witches, and Andrew.

"Oh, hey, Buffy. Angel's in the back of the library if you're looking for him. I doubt you're here for a book or something. Not that you don't like books or, umm-"

"It's cool, Andrew, I know the library's not really my place." But did she really wanna see Angel? That was a big, ugly, foul can of worms. Eh, why not? It was bound to happen eventually.

As she approached Angel she started to realize what a mistake this was, but it was too late. Angel had already sensed her.

"Buffy, what are you doing here?"

"Uh…nothing, just looking for people, seeing what's up."

"Right, well actually I've been wanting to talk to you."

"Oh, you have? I, uh, didn't realize…" Of course Buffy realized this; she had just been avoiding him.

"Yeah, but with everything that's happened, I understand. How are you?"

"Oh…umm, I'm alright," Buffy really just wanted to get this conversation over with, "but what did you wanna talk about."

"Us and… Spike." Angel had to force himself to get out that last word.

Buffy wasn't sure what to say, so she was just sitting there awkwardly.

Thankfully Angel stepped in for her, "I mean I can see that there's obviously something going on between you and Spike-"

"There's nothing going on between me and Spike."

"That's not true, Buffy."

Buffy just turned her head away from Angel. He was the last person she wanted to talk to about this.

"I know there's a lot going on right now, and that this probably isn't the most important thing, but I just gotta know, Buffy, is there still a chance for us?"

There was a long pause before Buffy said, "No… It's not easy for me to say that, Angel, but I'll always care about you. I'm just… I'm in love with Spike and I don't wanna live without him." She got the last part out quickly, like she was pulling off a band aid.

"Wait, you're in love with him? You're in love with Spike?" Angel couldn't understand what was happening. Buffy was in love with her once arch enemy. Had the world turned upside down?

"Yeah, I am."

Angel just nodded his head. "I guess I underestimated you two."

"Most people do," Buffy said quietly. "When I said that thing about the cookies, well, I did mean it at the time. I just wasn't expecting what happened after… But, umm, I'm pretty sure I heard Spike mutter something about a 'dog girl'?" She brought this up in the hopes that her rejection might not be as big of a blow to him.

"Oh yeah, Nina. We had a thing, but…" Angel just shrugged.

"Oh." Buffy wasn't sure what to say. This was turning out to be harder than she imagined.

Angel opened his mouth to say something, but then he closed it and turned his head away.

Buffy started to get up, but Angel grabbed her hand.

"Wait, Buffy. I just want you to be happy, and although I don't have the nicest opinions about you two together, I really do wish you the best."

At this point Buffy was holding back tears, "Thank you, Angel." Then she left the library. She wasn't sure exactly why she was crying, it's not like she regretted telling Angel the truth, but she felt bad about it. After years of her and Angel's love affair, it was truly over and there would be no going back to it.

Angel was hurt of course, he was the loser, but it wasn't a complete surprise. He had noticed the little looks between them. He could tell that there were secrets only they shared. His Buffy, the innocent young girl she was when they met, was gone. Angel left her, but Spike stayed, although it may not have been what he intended, and he saw her go through all those different phases. Now she was an adult, she didn't need a protector anymore, and that's what made her and Spike right for each other. They were equals. Angel would baby her, but Spike would support her and let her stand alone if needed.

But that last part wasn't quite true.

Spike hadn't left his room all day. There was no way he would let Buffy face Willow. How could she be so stupid? She would die if she did.

Spike finally decided to go and talk to her, so he went and knocked on her door.

She knew Spike was there before he even lifted his hand to knock.

Buffy opened the door, but didn't say anything to him.

"Can we talk?"

She stepped aside to let him in.

He started to say something, but then he noticed Buffy's eyes. "Slayer, have you been crying?"

She sighed, "It's nothing," she said as Spike gave her a disbelieving look, "just… Angel, that's all."

"Oh, of course it's Angel."

"It's not like that, Spike."

He scoffed, "Don't try and tell me it was just a hello again, Summers."

"Oh, grow up, Spike. I told you it's not like that. Angel and I…we're over, for good."

Immediately, he responded, "Why?" He could've punched himself for asking that. Why should he care? Angel was one of the reasons why Spike thought he and Buffy would never be together, and now Angel was out of the picture.

"Why? Why?" Buffy was outraged. Had Spike listened to a word she'd said since they've been here? "Because I don't have feelings for Angel anymore! I… God, Spike…" Buffy threw her hands in the air.

"Alright, that's it, Buffy, we've got to stop dancing around this-"

"But I always thought you loved the dance, Spike?" Buffy said in a politely jeering manner. All of her pent up anger towards Willow was being taken out on Spike, as usual.

Spike snarled, "Oh, this is bollocks, Buffy! You love me and I love you, and we both bloody well know that! We can't even really live without each other, Buffy! We're finally together with mutual feelings, no one will judge us- nothing's standing in our way, and yet we don't take this opportunity? Why, Buffy? Why?"

Buffy was completely taken aback by Spike yelling at her. "I'm in love with you," she said matter-of-factly, belatedly answering Spike's "why" from way before.

Spike just sighed, "Did you even listen to a word I said?"

"Not really." Buffy was still looking at him totally awestruck, which didn't go unnoticed by Spike.

Spike laughed lightly and shook his head. Then he went over to Buffy and kissed her.

They'd kissed thousands of times, and done plenty more than that, but this was completely new. Both Buffy and Spike could not be happier than they were in this very moment.


	22. My Best Friend is a Mass Murderer

Hola guys! Thank you for the reviews, and for adding my story to the alert and/or favorites thingy! I love it! Well, here's a new chapter (obviously), so enjoy! R & R please :)

22. My Best Friend is a (Mass) Murderer

The next morning Buffy awoke with Spike in her arms. She silently laughed. Last night was like something out of a romance novel, or a movie. It was one of the best nights of her life. This is where she wanted to be forever, but she knew that something would pull her away eventually.

"You're ruining the moment, slayer." Spike said half-asleep.

"Believe me, I don't want to."

Spike arched himself up on his elbow. "But?"

Buffy smiled, "But, it'll get ruined sooner or later."

"Well let's let someone else ruin it then." Spike put his head back down on the pillow.

Buffy laughed, "Don't you feel selfish? I mean, there are so many people who died, so many people who lost their friends and family. And Willow is…" Buffy shrugged, "And here we are being happy."

"Luv, in times like this, these kinds of moments are important. Remembering who and what's important to you, cherishing the moments you have together. Don't feel selfish, just enjoy this."

Buffy was still contemplating sleeping or getting up, "Alright, but only for ten more minutes."

"Uh huh."

"I mean it." She said sternly.

Spike just laughed, "Whatever you say, slayer."

It was over an hour before Buffy and Spike actually got out of bed. As she was showering, Buffy thought about how backwards things were. Spike was now an accepted member of the Scoobies, but Willow was the big bad. She and Faith were two peas in a pod, but the Buffy-Xander-Willow triangle was weaker than ever. The list could go on. The real problem was that she had no idea how to fix any of this.

"We're gonna be late, slayer." Spike called into the bathroom.

They had been gathering for short meetings in the library, and it had been causing the group many episodes of déjà vu because nothing new was ever brought up.

"Just gimme a minute!" Buffy called back.

Spike rolled his eyes; he knew it would be much more than that.

As she stepped out of the shower, she made a mistake in facing the mirror.

The wound was mostly healed, but the skin around the gash was slightly swollen and red. It was hideous. Now she really wanted those bandages back on.

Spike was getting impatient. As he went towards the bathroom to rush her, he was stopped by her stillness. He didn't want her to have to see the wound yet, but it was inevitable.

"Buffy…"

"I'm fine, really, I am." Spike could tell that she meant it. The look in her eyes told him that she was ready for a fight.

"I don't wanna get into this again, luv, but I can't let it go-"

"Spike-"

"No, Buffy. Please, let me talk." Buffy inclined her head then. "Can't you understand? Last night was only one night. Buffy, we could have hundreds more like that. I get that you're used to being a one woman show, but you can't think that way anymore. It's you and me now, Buffy, and we can't lose each other after just starting this. I get that you're used to being the strongest person in the world, but you're not, I'm sorry, luv, but you're not. Willow is. You can't beat her. And right now I know you'd go up against her in a bloody heartbeat 'cause you're angry, and hurt, and sad, but that'd be a mistake, Buffy. I love you, so don't do this to us."

Buffy sighed. She thought she knew how this should play out, and she wouldn't let anyone steer her away from that, but Spike wasn't just anyone. "Speeches are now your specialty, Spike."

Spike shrugged. "That hobby of yours must've rubbed off on me," he said teasingly.

Buffy gave a small laugh. "So, what do you want me to do then?"

"I want you to promise me that you won't be a twat and face Willow if it comes to that."

The slayer was very conflicted. If it did come to that (what did "that" mean anyway?) then who would confront Willow? She certainly wouldn't let one of the new slayers do it. There were the slayers from Sunnydale, but they only had a couple years of experience. There was Faith, but Buffy couldn't even fathom losing her, so there was no way she could let that happen. Maybe the best idea was to avoid a possible fight with her…

And honestly could she really refuse him right now, in this moment?

"Alright, I promise." And in that instant, she really did mean it.

She and Spike smiled at each other.

After a while they headed for the library, miraculously making it on time.

Buffy and Spike entered the room and sat down by each other. They still maintained their normal interaction in front of the others, even though only probably knew that something had changed between them based on his conversation with Buffy yesterday.

The two blondes were not very affectionate with each other, but you could tell by looking at them that they were definitely a united front.

Giles was standing at the front of the table, "Good morning, everyone. Uh, per usual there isn't much to report…"

"You know, Giles, as much as I appreciate the effort of acting like we have some sort of control in all of this, these meetings are kind of…" Xander looked around hoping that he wasn't the only one who thought this way.

"Stupid?" Dawn offered, earning a stern look from the watcher.

"Well, I was gonna say pointless, but yeah, what she said."

Giles gave a disappointed sigh, "I understand, but we must at least keep some semblance of normalcy and order."

"Giles is right," Buffy said, "we may be in the middle of Nowhere land, but we need to try and act like we're doing something, and this keeps us a strong group, which, let's face it, is all we have going for us right now."

There were many reasons why no one would argue her point. Number one being she's right.

"But, seriously, we need to find out some info, and soon. I don't like us just sitting here waiting for something to happen."

"Well, maybe I can be of help."

Everyone in the room jumped, and Andrew started screaming.

"Relax, Andy," said Willow in a mock soothing tone, "I'm not gonna hurt you."

"Look, I love the spontaneity of the new and improved you Wil, but really, couldn't you use the doorbell?" Xander was actually quite frightened, but he relied on his usual sarcasm anyway.

"Well, that would take away the element of surprise, Xander."

Before Xander could retort, Buffy jumped in angrily, "Willow, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, take it down a notch, Buffy," Willow said dangerously. "We all know how that ended for you last time. Looking good, by the way."

Spike was hoping that Buffy would remember her promise and keep her cool.

Buffy was steaming, but she tried to stay calm, "Alright then, what can we help you with Willow?"

Willow was not amused with her false hospitality, but she had to stay on task this time around, so focusing on anger was not the way to go. "As I said, Buffy, I'm actually here to help you."

"Why do you wanna help us? You're a murderer, Willow! You're the problem!"

"I've been a murderer for a long time, Buffy, remember?" Willow shrugged, "You were pretty quick to forget it back then."

"There were more important things to deal with, and don't play dumb, you know what I'm referring to."

"Right, well, that… See that wasn't supposed to happen."

"And what was?"

Willow sighed, "That's not important-"

"Well, if you're so eager to help us then you better start talking, I don't care what you deem important or not important." Buffy wasn't really sure if she was playing her cards right, but there was no way she was going to go along with Willow blindly.

Willow was in awe, Buffy was quite confident in herself. "What gives you the idea that you're in charge, Buffy? Oh, wait, you've always thought that, and I guess it was true… But now, I'm in charge. Don't fool yourself, Buffy."

"Fine. The floor is yours, Willow." Buffy learned that is would be best to not piss her off again.

"As I said, that wasn't meant to happen, and I wasn't the cause of it." Willow started to stroll around the room. "You know, I really had more faith- no pun intended- in you guys. The glorious Scooby gang always found the bad guy and beat them down, but now, you guys make the Evil Dweebs look like pros. So, I'm here to point you in the right direction. This would've happened earlier if someone could've kept their ego in check."

"Willow, if you're here just to insult us-"

"Ah, ah, ah." Willow waved her finger back and forth. "What did I say? I'm tired of reminding you, so now someone's gonna suffer for your insolence, Buff."

"No, Willow, don't!"

Willow shrugged apologetically, "Too late." She snapped her fingers, and on cue someone appeared.

"Xander?"

The sound of that voice made his heart start beating faster, but left the rest of him frozen in place.

"Xander?" The voice said more firmly. "Xander Harris! Don't ignore me."

Xander's eye started watering. "No. It's fake, this isn't real." He knew there was someone standing behind him, but it was just a false image, and Xander wouldn't let it get to him.

"So that's what you what really think of me? After all this time it finally comes out! Well… I don't care! You don't mean anything to me either!"

The false person went on complaining as Xander struggled to ignore the aggravating voice that he loved so much.

Buffy saw her friend's heart breaking again. "Willow, please, stop this."

The others from Sunnydale were horrified, but they couldn't look away.

"Only if you keep yourself in line, Buffy." Willow demanded.

"I will! I will." Buffy replied immediately.

The apparition was gone, but the damage was done. Willow got her point across.

Willow started to continue her speech. "Where was, I? Oh, right, your ego. Now I meant to come in peace last time, but again, that didn't go as planned. And now I have to make up for that- schedule-wise, not apology-wise." Willow paused, "The people that you should be after are the senior partners."

A collective "What?" could be heard around the room.

Angel, who had been standing in the back watching everything unfold, walked forward. "How do you know this?"

"A little birdie told me. And I can feel them; it came with the whole power upgrade thing."

"Would that little birdie happen to be in the form of an old woman who comes bearing visions?"

Willow smiled, even though she was a second away from seeing red. There was so much that she should've found out from the woman.

Spike went over and stood by Angel, "We'll take you're silence for a yes, pet."

Angel tried to hide his annoyance with Spike. "Who was she, Willow?"

She was furious, but she had to rein it in, otherwise things could get very ugly. And suddenly she wasn't in control of the situation anymore. How did that happen? "I don't know." She said, and she started pacing again. "Unfortunately, the lesser being version of me was too scared and didn't ask any questions. For all I know, she might be working for the partners, she might have her own agenda, or maybe she's being totally honest."

Angel couldn't believe that as a super-witch, Willow hadn't thought of locating her.

Willow knew what he would say though, "I already tried to find her. Obviously, I didn't succeed."

Buffy decided to join their conversation, "So we'll never actually know the truth if we can't find her."

"No," Willow replied, "but she was being honest about what's happening?"

"'What's happening'? You mean with the senior partners?" Buffy was tired of the cryptic responses. She's had enough of that in her life. One thing that she picked up from Faith was the idea that honesty, or bluntness to be more accurate, really was the best policy.

Willow sighed. So much for being the big bad. It looked like she'd have to get more involved with the Scoobies than she thought. "Yes, that's what I mean." Willow paused for a few seconds, than continued, "In retaliation against their previous defeat and for other reasons, the senior partners are attempting to destroy the world."

Angel felt incredibly stupid. How had he not figured this out? The senior partners were his nemeses. "Why? Why not just attack me directly?"

"Because of those other reasons."

"Which are?" Many of the Scoobies said at once. They were all tired of Willow dragging this out.

"Don't get antsy with me," Willow warned. "The slayers. They don't like them."

At that moment a light bulb went off in many heads, but Willow went on talking, and no one would dare to interrupt her.

"They will, and are, killing business for them, one demon at a time. Money's also a factor, but that doesn't really affect us."

"Us?" Buffy echoed in disbelief.

"Yes, us. You need me. And I, well, I don't need you, but I could use you."

Willow was lying to them. She needed them more than they needed her, honestly she was desperate. She had to retain as much upper-hand as possible, though.

"Okay, so tell us what's going on, and leave out the dramatic effect, Willow."

Willow opened her mouth to say something, but Angel cut her off. "Buffy's right, Willow. You're right too, though, we do need you, but we're not gonna help you- or, let you use us, until you start talking."

They really didn't know who they were messing with.

"Alright! Alright. The partners are going to combine every dimension here on Earth. I, contrary to appearances, am protecting all of the people occupying this planet by holding up the dimensional walls. Any questions yet?"

Giles was perplexed, "Is going about it this way worth it, Willow?"

Being talked down to by Giles got on her nerves more than anything, "This is the only way for me achieve enough power to do this job, Giles. I didn't have a choice; it was this or the end of the world. Take your pick."

Giles nodded his head. It was a no-win situation for her, and he marginally was proud of her, yet very disappointed at the same time. "I understand, Willow, I do…" Giles was preparing to walk on very, very thin ice right now, "But, did you cause those events recently?"

Willow's eyes immediately darted to him. "I told you. That was the partners."

Angel stepped in for Giles, better to have the witch get angry at a vamp than a human, even though Angel didn't doubt her ability to kill him too. Also, he was a bit possessive about the senior partners. "But if it was them, wouldn't that have caused demons to be here from other dimensions? There wouldn't have been natural disasters."

Willow was actually panicking. "Look, I did what I had to do. I didn't know that would happen."

"You're drawing from the Earth, aren't you, Willow?" Giles asked.

"Would you rather me get it from more books, or people? What would you prefer, Rupert?"

Things were getting out of control for Willow. The Scoobies messed everything up.

"If the senior partners don't manage to destroy the world, then you will!" Even though she looked like an all-powerful witch, Giles currently saw her as the amateur, inexperienced witch that she once was.

Willow remained calm on the outside. "No, I won't. Not if we stop the senior partners. And that's where all of you come in." Willow started to walk around the room, "See, I can't leave this dimension. The minute I do, nothing is standing in the way of the partners. You need to find a way to kill them."

The Scoobies were speechless, well, all except Xander, who had managed to recover from the incident earlier, "Are you sure? I mean how about we just find some magical, invisible nuts and bolts and plywood to keep those walls sturdy? I vote for that!"

Willow just rolled her eyes. "It doesn't work that way."

Xander didn't give up, "How does that work, exactly? I mean the whole, collapsing the walls thing? Magical bulldozer?"

"Even if I explained it, your inadequate mind wouldn't understand."

Xander nodded, "Right. Inadequate mind. Okay." His hands made a two thumbs up motion.

"How are we supposed to kill them?" Buffy asked.

"Well, like I said, I'm actually trying to save the world, so I'm going to use all my power at once to repair the walls completely. The force from that should severely weaken the senior partners for a while, but not permanently."

All Giles heard was that she was planning on using all of her power at once. "And what effect will that have on you?"

"Aw, I'm touched that you're concerned about me, Rupert. But don't be. The worst that can happen would be me losing all my power- permanently."

Not surprisingly, the majority of the gang was okay with that happening, but how would they deal with being around her then, after all that's happened?

"And you're actually willing to do that?" Giles wasn't sure that he believed this.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not the bad guy, well, not the worst bad guy, anyway."

"But," Buffy countered, "they're still in another dimension."

"Well, if you people would stop interrupting me, then I would explain everything and this wouldn't take so long." Willow said, glaring around the room. She went on, "They have a way of entering this dimension, so there must be a portal somewhere. Although, I can't find it because they hide it." She looked at Angel, "Do you know where it is?"

Angel shook his head.

"Well, we'll find it, then I'll weaken the partners and you guys will enter the portal and kill them. I think it's pretty straightforward."

"Yeah, except for the part of finding a portal that even you can't find." Xander mumbled.

Willow stared at him, "You're really pushing it, Harris."

"Sorry," Xander said quickly and made a mental note to shut up from now on.

"Wait!" Buffy remembered something, "The slayers. You said the senior partners hate them, and we've had slayers disappearing."

Willow mulled over this. "If they're taking slayers, then they must be planning for an attack, otherwise, what's the point if they're not gonna use them?" She was talking more to herself than anyone else.

"They're gonna pit them against us. Slayers versus slayers." Buffy stated grimly.

Spike nodded his head, "Weaken the enemy."

"And you can bet that they're gonna be trained- very well trained," Angel added.

"I'll put up a barrier, because trust me on this, they know where you are. And eventually they'll come. Actually they've probably been watching you this whole time." Willow closed her eyes and said some small chant. "There. It's around the entire estate."

Buffy wasn't sure if she believed Willow about anything, but she also couldn't figure out why Willow might lie about it all. "Well, thank you Willow," Buffy forced out, but not without an inner struggle. Willow was evil after all, and she's killed millions of people. "I think we've all had a very long day," she concluded, even though it hadn't even been an hour and was still morning, "so we should just, uh, get some sleep," she finished pathetically. She may have been for frankness, but this was not the place for it.

But luckily, Xander backed her up quickly, "Yeah, I agree, Buff," he came over and put an arm around her, "I'm beat. But major developments, everyone, good job, good job!" Xander started clapping.

Andrew joined him overenthusiastically, "Yes, good work everyone!" But the silence brought him to a slow stop.

"But, guys, it's morning," Dawn chimed in, much to the dismay of, well, the entire group who were giving her death stares. "Oh… Yeah, I'm pretty exhausted too…" Dawn tried to make up for her error, but she failed.

Willow didn't react to any of that. "I'll be in my room."

"Wait- you're staying here?" Buffy was not comfortable with that at all.

"Of course. We still have work to do, Buffy, need I remind you about that even though that's all we've been talking about?"

Buffy didn't have a reply, so Willow just walked out of the library.

The Scoobies were silent for a while, and soon they all headed back to their rooms.

Buffy and Spike walked back with their arms around each other.

"You alright, luv?"

Buffy sighed, "Yes and no… I really just wanna go back to bed." She sounded tired.

"That's fine by me, slayer," Spike said contently.

They entered his bedroom and shut the door.

Buffy and Spike were dead to the world for the rest of the day.


	23. March of the AntiSlayers

Hey everyone! I know it's been a while, but I finally finished this chapter. As always, thanks for the reviews and adding my story or me to the favs/alerts! So go forth and read this lovely chapter (and then review, of course)!

23. March of the Anti-Slayers

The sun had set over Scooby central and Xander and Spike were to go around asking the local demons about L.A. and the senior partners.

"Why are you going with Xander?" Buffy asked Spike.

"'Cause I don't really fancy being around Angel right now, luv."

Buffy gave Spike a disbelieving look. He always took advantage of any moment where he could annoy the hell out of Angel.

Spike struggled to find the right words for a minute. "I just wanna give him some time to get used to this."

Buffy couldn't believe it. Spike was trying to protect Angel. "Spike…" Buffy said lovingly.

"Don't! It's just, uh, you know I really don't care how he feels. I'd love to rub this in his face, but we need him to be at his best. This is war! What kind of war would be waging if one of our best fighters was all moody and depressed…well…more than he usually is… And-"

"I get it Spike. War. Morale. But you don't care," Buffy said, nodding while suppressing a giant grin. "Just be careful."

"Always am." Spike put on his duster, kissed Buffy, then left.

She collapsed on the bed. What was she gonna do tonight without him around?

As Xander was walking to meet Spike, he ran into Faith. Literally.

"Geez, Harris, are you blind or somethin'?" As soon as the words left her mouth she realized how her use of the phrase was accidentally tacky. Having only one eye couldn't be that easy. She started to apologize, but Xander stopped her.

"It's alright. I won't take it personally."

Faith just nodded. "Where you headed?"

"Spike and I are gonna question some of the local bottom dwellers." Xander shrugged, "I honestly don't think we'll find anything out."

"Yeah, but if the wicked bitch says to do it…"

Xander flinched at her words.

"Sorry. It's not really her though."

Xander looked around to make sure no one was there, like he was going to tell Faith some big secret. "I kinda feel like it is though," he said quietly. "I mean, she chose this."

Faith empathized with him. She knew how it felt to see someone you care about turn into a monster. "We're gonna try and get her back." It was the best support she could offer him.

Xander just nodded. That's all he could do, it wasn't agreeing or disagreeing because he didn't know what would happen. "I should go."

Faith nodded, "See ya." She was grateful he left. That conversation was getting just a little too emotional for her. And that's when an idea hit her.

Buffy was just walking around her room. It wasn't that she was helpless without Spike, or that she always needed him here with her. For some reason being at this house made her feel so useless. Patrolling was completely covered by the new slayers, as was training by Robin, Kennedy, and now Illyria, who made a good opponent for the girls. All her slayer duties were taken care of here. And to think that she used to dream of this day. She really missed Mexico right now.

Then there was a knock on her door. Buffy opened it and was happy to see Faith on the other side.

"All Giles has is Scotch." Faith then held up two bottles and two glasses.

Buffy just started laughing. Why not? Things were pretty crazy right now, especially with Willow residing at the manor. She only came out of her room once when she joined the meeting that morning for all of five seconds to bark out some things to do.

"Where we going?" Buffy asked.

"I'm thinkin' kitchen. I'm starving."

Buffy closed her door, and they started walking. "What have you been doing all day?"

Faith paused, "Well, I just woke up a few hours ago…and I showered." She shrugged.

Buffy laughed and shook her head.

"Well, what else am I gonna do?" Faith asked seriously.

"No, I get it. I really do."

"We aren't slayers here, B. Never were. This place is killing us."

Buffy nodded in agreement. "But, we can't leave."

"You wouldn't anyway." Faith didn't say this bitterly or accusingly. She was just stating a fact.

"Well… I honestly don't know. I doubt we'll have to think about that for a long while though." She and Spike were together now, so she and Faith weren't always going to be at the hip anymore. It was saddening to think about, but the two of them had to face the world now. There would be no more hiding in Mexico.

"Don't sweat it, B." Faith smiled at Buffy, "It's life. It's okay to move forward."

"You're lecturing me about moving forward? Pot? Kettle?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. The advice you should always take is your own, but that never happens…"

The two women walked in silence for the rest of the walk to the kitchen. They both had much to think about.

When they finally got there and sat down, they remained silent.

"Well, this is depressing." Faith sighed, "This was supposed to be fun, like old times."

Buffy suddenly smiled. "Then pour me a drink, F."

Faith laughed, "Now that's more like it!" She took the top off the bottle.

By the time they had finished off one bottle, Buffy and Faith were pretty tipsy. But it was fun. Buffy had already fallen off the stool she was sitting on, and Faith was shoving all kinds of food in her mouth.

"If one of those young girls is getting intoxicated right now, Andrew…"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Giles, I didn't know that I was supposed to keep watch on your personal liquor collection. Which is quite impressive, by the way. Unfortunately, I just don't have the stomach for the stuff."

The two slayers could hear Giles and Andrew's voices from where they were sitting.

"Oh shit," was all Faith cold say.

"These are from Giles' collection?" Buffy whispered angrily, but then she just started laughing.

"Well, that's all there is in this place."

Now their footsteps could be heard.

Buffy and Faith were panicking. Why, exactly, they didn't know (it was the alcohol of course), but they just didn't want Giles to catch them.

Faith pointed towards a door in the kitchen.

"The pantry?" Buffy said, a little too loudly.

"Shhh!"

The two girls rushed for the pantry and managed to quietly close the door.

"Is this fun enough for you now, Faith?"

"Ooh! Doritos!" Faith reached for them, making a lot of sound.

"Faith! Be quiet!" Buffy whispered.

The slayers continued their party in the pantry, and they eventually fell asleep in there.

Later, when Spike and Xander returned to the house (without any helpful information) Buffy was nowhere to be found.

Spike started to follow her scent. She was with Faith somewhere. He was led to the kitchen where the trail ended, but they were still nowhere to be found.

Robin walked into the kitchen, "Xander said you were looking for Buffy."

"Yeah," Spike replied off-handedly. The rift between him and Robin was settled, but that didn't mean they had to play nice with each other. And trust that Robin was not offended by Spike's unkindness in the very least.

Then there was a movement in the pantry. Spike and Robin shared a confused look.

Sure enough, when Spike opened the door there were Buffy and Faith, fast asleep.

Shaking his head, Spike went and picked Buffy up and carried her back to her room. "Enjoy yourself, slayer?" Buffy just moved her head a bit. "That's what I thought, luv."

That left Robin with Faith. He sighed. He tried so hard to get over her. Faith was difficult, aloof, and usually very blunt. She did have her kind moments, but she never let herself stay that vulnerable for more than a second. And Robin loved everything about her, which only made him that much more angry with himself.

He copied Spike's movement and carried Faith to her room. "Good night, Faith." Robin had to force himself to let go of her hand. She would never know about this though. It was probably for the best.

Things were relatively calm for the next few weeks, well only when Willow was in her room. The entire household was scared of her. The only person who was obvious about it was Andrew.

Buffy and Spike moved into one room, his of course.

The two slayers decided to stay off the booze for now, after the embarrassment of the pantry incident. And Giles never did find out who stole his scotch (which Andrew now checked daily).

And the search for the portal continued, but with no progress.

Back in L.A., the senior partners were very bored and irritated. The witch was countering their every move, and she was even protecting Buffy's people. It was very surprising that they let her stay there.

The partners' slayers stationed in England couldn't step one foot on the grounds of the house.

Something needed to happen, and soon.

Willow was sitting in her room. Sometimes the pressure was too much for her to handle, but she couldn't stop fighting. Especially now that she was here, Willow didn't want to let her friends down even more than she already had, but she would never admit that to anyone. Not that she cared about what they thought though…

Suddenly, the pressure got stronger and stronger. Willow knew what they were doing. Even though she knew what would happen if she withdrew more power, what choice did she have? It was either a bad decision or a bad decision.

She took in more strength and pushed right back. The senior partners' effort was defeated, but Willow was drained. It caused her appearance to revert back to normal. She was left sitting on the floor, exhausted and out of breath. Willow thought of how many people she probably killed this time.

Down on the edge of Giles' property, in the dark of the night, the senior partners' slayers started to make their way up to the house. Temporarily draining the witch of her power let down the barrier around it, which let in the slayers.

Most of the Scoobies were in the library searching through (or pretending to search through) books. Most of the new slayers were sleeping, training started early in the mornings. They were all oblivious to the impending attack.

There were at least one hundred of them marching in unison. The group stopped, and then four slayers broke away from the group. They went in pairs in opposite directions, heading for the two slayers who guarded the back of the house. They were short struggles, and the evil slayers, who were trained more as assassins, won by quickly breaking their target's neck.

The group started to march again but they broke up into units. One took the back entrance of the house, two others went for the sides, and the last group headed for the front of the house. Buffy's slayers fought hard, but they were greatly outnumbered. One of the front guards, Gina, managed to seriously injure one of the rival slayers, but her death followed shortly after. It all happened very quickly.

The hostile slayers brought weapons, but so far they rarely used them. Buffy's slayers weren't equipped to fight other slayers. And it looked to be their downfall.

Willow was still sitting on the floor when she realized that the barrier was down. But she didn't have enough energy to put it back up. Then she realized that she'd been deceived. It was all about the barrier. "Oh, no." Willow ran to her window and from there she could see the some anti-slayers entering the house.

The house was surrounded, and many were already inside. Who knew how many were dead by now. If Willow went to warn the others, she would be killed. If only she had energy. "I'll only take a little, no one will get hurt by this." The doubt was resonant in her voice. She took a deep breath and felt the power of the Earth. She focused more on it, and then slowly drew from it, but she stopped at a certain point. The black was back, but that wasn't important to her. She needed to get downstairs to the library.

Luckily the library wasn't that far away, so teleporting wouldn't take that long. Moments later she appeared among the Scoobies, greatly surprising them.

"Uh, Willow, what-" Buffy started to say.

"You're under attack." Willow told them with little emotion in her voice.

"What?" Many Scoobies said in unison.

"You don't have time to sit around. You are under attack. Go. Fight back."

"Wait, what? I thought we were in this together, Willow?" There were too many things happening, but Buffy understood that Willow wouldn't be sticking around for the fight.

"I don't have enough power." Willow's emotions betrayed her, and everyone around saw the guilt on her face. "I- I'm…" She couldn't get the apology out, though. "There are slayers surrounding the house, most are inside. You can't hesitate to kill them." And then she disappeared.

"Buffy," Xander started to ask her, "what are we gonna do?"

Buffy turned to face everyone. "These slayers are gonna be tough, they'll manage to take out a lot of our girls. I can't risk some of you. Giles, Xander, Dawn, Andrew, and Robin, go to the basement. Stay there and do not come out until one of us goes down there for you."

"I'm staying." Robin said.

Buffy wanted to argue, but she knew he wouldn't budge.

"I'll be with him." Faith offered. Robin seemed to be examining her carefully.

When the Scoobies first got here, they made sure to prepare for any situation that they could think of. And an attack on the house was the first one they thought of. There were several secret passageways that they, well, actually Xander, built through the house. They were all the only connection to the basement. Hopefully the attacking slayers wouldn't find them.

Giles and Xander didn't want to hide, but they understood. They were no match for a slayer. Dawn went and hugged Buffy. Then the four humans left.

"Okay. Robin and Faith, you'll cover the East wing, wake up the slayers there…if they're still alive and send some to the other areas of the house. Angel, you go with Illyria and cover the back entrance of the house. Kennedy, you and Rona and Vi, anyone from Sunnydale, will cover the West end of the house. There aren't many other slayers over there, but get them up and fighting. Spike, you and I will get the main entrance. Let's go."

Fortunately, the library had a small stock of weapons, including Buffy's scythe, so they loaded up and set out for their positions.

"Are you gonna be alright, Buffy?" Spike asked her.

"I can't think about that right now. We're being attacked and I will fight back and do what I have to in order to protect everyone." They might be slayers, but they're still living, breathing humans. But, Buffy would kill them if she had to.

"You should've went down in the basement. You could seriously get hurt." Faith said to Robin as they were walking.

"I'm surprised you care, Faith." He responded coolly.

Faith didn't say anything after that, and Robin didn't push her.

Buffy and Spike were quietly making their way towards the front of the house. The library was the center of the house, so they weren't that far away. The two of them could hear footsteps around the corner; they knew it was the attacking slayers.

Buffy looked at Spike and whispered, "On three."

He nodded.

"One, two, three."

Buffy and Spike leapt from around the corner, charging the slayers. Spike fought hard, but Buffy was holding back. She was trying to avoid killing any of them. One of the slayers she was fighting managed to get a good swing in, cutting Buffy's upper arm.

She was slowly realizing that there were too many to fight, and this passive-aggressive fighting put too much at risk. It pained her to think about killing slayers, but it was the only option.

Buffy raised her scythe and brought it down across the opposing slayer's chest. She fell to the ground, her fatal wound quickly bleeding out.

Buffy once almost killed a human- Faith. It was to save the man she loved, and also because Faith was evil. Was this situation any different? The fatality number would be higher this time, though.

Slayers kept coming at her, but Buffy kept knocking them down. She'd get little wounds here and there, but nothing serious. Buffy was a better fighter then all of them.

Spike was managing just as well. He knew how slayers fight, and he knows how to defeat them. He kept checking on Buffy throughout the battle. Spike had no idea how she would handle this, but Buffy seemed to be in full slayer mode for now.

On Faith and Robin's side, things were not going as well. Many of the slayers who were being trained at the mansion had been quietly killed. They never stood a chance against the senior partners' slayers. The slayers who were living farther in the house survived only because of their location, but there were very few. Faith doubted that most of them would last long against their attackers.

For some reason they had not yet run into the ambushing slayers.

"It's almost sad," Faith said aloud.

"What is?" Robin inquired curiously.

"They're gonna die, but we're gonna force them into battle anyway…"

"We did that in Sunnydale didn't we? It happens every day."

"Yeah," Faith nodded, "I guess some things will always stay the same."

"They don't always have to," Robin said, staring intensely at Faith. His voice conveyed a deeper meaning to his words.

Some of the surviving slayers were sent to aid the others, but the rest stayed with Faith and Robin. Before Faith had even been able to explain anything to them, the group was attacked. In no less than a minute, four slayers had been killed.

They fought back hard, but many slayers died. As Faith was busy fighting, she was also protecting Robin when she could. But as her back was turned, Robin was wounded. Faith heard him cry out in anguish, and her heart froze.

"Robin!"

The slayers who arrived to help Buffy and Spike weren't really needed. The two of them made an amazing team. They were always aware of each other, and they knew each other's fighting styles very well. Most of the slayers here were taken care of.

"Go help Kennedy!" Buffy yelled. She figured that Angel and Illyria wouldn't need much more help, or any at all.

She and Spike teamed up to finish off the slayers until there was only one remaining. The three of them were surrounded by the bodies of dead slayers. It was a frightening sight to see.

Buffy and Spike looked at each other. They were both thinking the same thing.

"Just kill me." The slayer said.

"Sorry, pet, not gonna happen." Spike told her.

She realized what they were intending to do. "You're not gonna get anything out of me."

Buffy felt horrible. She was just a girl. She looked like she was Dawn's age. "What's your name?"

"I don't have a name, names are a weakness." She spit out at Buffy. The unnamed slayer was ironically showing her feelings. She put on a tough act, but she actually looked incredibly scared.

The girl was still holding her blade. Buffy knew that they needed to get that away from her before she could possibly use it on herself.

Buffy subtly looked at the knife and then Spike, hoping that he would understand. After a few times of doing this, he finally got it and then seconds later they charged her. Spike went for the knife and Buffy restrained the girl. She was screaming and kicking, but Buffy didn't let go.

Spike found something to tie around the girl's mouth to keep her quiet.

But now they had to figure out what to do with her.

"The basement." Buffy said.

Spike nodded in agreement.

"I'll take her, you go help the others."

"No. You're not going alone, luv."

Buffy sighed, "Alright then. Let's go."

The two went into the foyer, where there was a passage to the basement through a hidden door in the wall.

As they were making their way down the stairs to the basement, the girl finally stopped struggling.

Buffy and Spike were greeted by the Scoobies.

"Dear lord." Giles said in shock.

Although Buffy and Spike were not severely hurt, they were covered in blood, but most wasn't theirs.

"We're fine, Giles." Buffy assured him. "We need to chain her up."

Giles went over to Spike, "How bad is it?"

"There were about 20 slayers in the front of the house, give or take, I didn't really count. They're tough. Most of the young ones were killed though, they didn't even make it out of their bedrooms. Willow must've been a little late on letting us know about this."

Giles nodded slowly. They had a few hundred slayers here, and most of them were now gone. This information was hard to absorb.

Buffy walked over to them. "Keep a watch on her. I think you and Xander should be able to handle her if she gets out of control," she said to Giles. Then facing Spike she said, "We need to go help the others."

Spike nodded in agreement and they rushed out of the basement.

"Who are we gonna help first?"

Buffy thought about it, "Faith's probably the strongest person on the East wing, she'll be doing most of the heavy fighting herself."

The two headed for the East area.

They found Faith standing over Robin fighting off several slayers. There were only five of Buffy's newbie slayers left standing, and they weren't faring so well in their first battle.

Spike went to help the younger ones, and Buffy ran to her friend's side.

Buffy swung her scythe and hit a slayer. "Is he alright?"

"I dunno." Faith blocked a sword coming at her, "I haven't been able to check."

There were around fifteen attacking slayers left, but with the help of Buffy and Spike, that number was reduced quickly.

"I got this," Buffy said to Faith, "get him outta here."

Faith didn't want to leave, but at the same time she really did want to leave and save Robin. It was honestly a no brainer for her though. She pulled Robin to his feet, and although he could barely stand Faith managed to drag him towards the library to get to the basement.

Eventually, the resistance on this side was defeated.

"If you guys aren't feeling up to more fighting, you can go down to the basement. No one will blame you." Buffy said to the young slayers between breaths.

The two girls thought about it, and even though there was no time to waste, Buffy didn't rush them.

"I'll keep fighting." One said.

"Me too." The other said.

"Well, let's get a move on then." Spike demanded.

As they were walking Buffy asked Spike, "How do you think Angel and Illyria are holding up?"

"Blue's strong, and Angel, well, he'll manage just fine."

"Alright, then we should go help Kennedy."

They didn't get much further when a slayer emerged and started to attack. Buffy and Spike fought her in a team, and she was on the ground in minutes.

Buffy looked at Spike with a worried look on her face, "One got past them…"

"And there'll probably be more." Spike finished for her.

"Which means their barrier fell."

Who was still alive on the West side?

The group of four ran as fast as they could to where Kennedy and the others were positioned.

Buffy only counted thirteen standing slayers on their side.

As they joined the fight, Buffy realized Kennedy wasn't there. "Where's Kennedy?" Buffy yelled to Vi.

Vi's eyes were teary and filled with unmistakable rage. "She's dead." She yelled back.

Although, Buffy was never very fond of Kennedy, Buffy knew that she had done a lot here with training the slayers. She shouldn't have died.

With nine people now fighting against the offensive slayers, they were being taken out much faster.

Buffy still took some hits, and she was bleeding quite a bit more than before, but she, and the others, persevered.

Finally, the fighting was over.

Spike looked pretty battered, but he could still stand.

Vi and Rona were the only slayers from Sunnydale remaining now.

"Let's go check on Angel and Illyria." Buffy ordered.

"But, what about the bodies?" Rona asked.

"We'll come back for them later, Rona."

Rona didn't seem satisfied with Buffy's answer, but she took it anyway.

On the way to the back of the house, Angel and Illyria intercepted them all.

"You guys are okay?" Angel asked.

"We're alive," was the best answer Buffy could come up with.

Everyone ended up in the basement, and for a long time there was complete silence.

"There's no winner from this battle. Their troops are dead, and most of ours are too." Buffy stated. "But, we're still here. And even though we've been betrayed and damaged, for now we have the upper hand." She said the last part while looking at their captured slayer. "But before we can do anything else, we have to take care of the bo- Of the bodies. Dawn, Andrew, you two can stay here with Robin and keep a watch on her. She's chained up pretty well, there shouldn't be any problems."

The two just nodded. Robin was seriously injured, but he would survive. He ended up with a wide gash running down his entire back. He was numbed and bandaged up for now.

Buffy, Spike, Angel, Giles, Xander, Faith, and even Illyria marched upstairs with twenty-seven other slayers to remove the bodies from the building.

The first step was to separate their slayers from the senior partners' slayers. Buffy couldn't recognize most of the slayers who lived at the mansion, but the partners' slayers were dressed in the exact same black pants and shirts.

So far Buffy had managed to keep her composure, but it was slowly cracking. Carrying those young girls' bodies was unfathomable to her, even while she was doing it. It all felt so surreal.

"Is this really happening?" She said as she was looking out a window.

Spike was the only one who heard her detached, monotone voice. What was he supposed to say to her?

"Yeah, luv, it is… Their deaths will be avenged when we bring down the senior partners."

"Willow let this happen." Buffy voice suddenly sounded acidic.

And this was what Spike was afraid of. "You promised me, Buffy."

Spike was standing behind her, and she glanced at him from the corners of her eyes. Then she looked back at the window. At some point the land around the house had withered up. She wasn't even surprised by this.

She tried to muster up as much sincerity as she could, "I know."

That was all she could say to him because as of now, she really was not sure if she could keep that promise.

No matter the consequences of that decision.


	24. Tides of Grief

Hey readers! Thanks for the reviews! I love reviews! So this chapter isn't as exciting as the last, but the next couple of ones get intense. So that's something to look forward to. Well, R & R pretty please?

24. Tides of Grief

Willow was back in Japan, standing on the edge of a cliff. She had done a lot of damage this time around. Many places had been destroyed because of her. It was strange to be singlehandedly saving the world while destroying it at the same time.

Because of her the Scoobies lost nearly all of their slayers. It was a massacre. Willow felt things- she really did- but those feelings of guilt and sadness and loneliness were only feeding the darkness, the anger, inside.

There was no way she would be able to win them back to her side now, but she would help them somehow, some way.

Back at the mansion, the aura was incredibly grim. They had separated the two groups of dead slayers, but now they had to figure out what to do with them.

"What do we do with all of them, Giles?" Buffy asked her watcher.

"Well, the truth is that we can't take the time to give them all individual graves and funerals, there are too many of them, and we have a serious…" Giles didn't finish his sentence.

"Apocalypse on our hands? Yeah… So, what? A mass grave then?" The words made her feel sick. There were so very many dead and they were just going to end up in a giant hole in the ground.

"Unfortunately, yes. We have little time to waste."

"But what about their families? Wouldn't they want to be the ones to bury them?" She was torn between going and finding the senior partners and Willow right now, or giving these girls an honorable funeral.

"Buffy, I know this is impossibly hard to think about, but we do not have time to contact their families. Willow is destroying the world. We have to kill the senior partners in order to ease the struggle for Willow and then we have to figure out how to bring her back." Giles was being very patient with her, but even he was having a hard time. He'd gotten to know so many of these girls, and now they were gone.

"Right…"

The two were silent for a while.

"Uh, Xander," Giles called, "we could use your help with something."

Xander had managed to stay strong for now. This whole night was why he was scared to come back. All this death was hard to stomach, but somehow he'd been doing it for years.

"Yeah?"

Giles cleared his throat, "We need to dig up a lot of land…"

Xander understood, "I can get some equipment in the morning."

"Thanks, Xand." Buffy said quietly.

Giles and Xander then went off to be by themselves.

Spike was still worried. This was something that could not have been predicted, and it changed things. Buffy was even more angry, and that made her more dangerous.

Spike walked up to Buffy from behind and wrapped his arms around her.

"Luv?"

"I know, I promised, Spike."

"That's not was I was gonna talk about, but now that you mention it…"

She sighed, "You have no idea how torn I am. I'm like in ten different pieces. I want to send these girls back to their families, I want to hunt down Willow for letting this happen, I want to go find that portal and kill the senior partners, I want to stay true to my promise, I want…" She sighed in frustration and put her hands on her forehead.

"You'll get killed. You know that, and that's why you promised me, Buffy."

"I know…." There was nothing else to say because she couldn't bear to be completely honest with him right now. It would only hurt him. "We have to wait 'til morning to bury them."

"We should go talk to the girl then." Spike said after a minute.

"Yeah."

Meanwhile, Giles was in his office. Every girl had a file, but now there was a revision to make on them. Giles took out a stamp and an ink pad and started to mark the files. On the top of the front paper that included their personal information, the stamp mark read "DECEASED."

Giles took out file after files and did this until tears started to run down his cheeks. He wasn't a crier, but this was too much for even him.

Xander called his girlfriend in the states, but there was no answer. He didn't even know what time it was there. Then he pulled out a flask and took a drink.

Andrew and Dawn were still down in the basement. They had been sitting there for hours, wondering what was going on upstairs until Buffy and Spike came down there.

"Guys, go up to the library, and stay there." Buffy ordered.

"You don't have to protect me, Buffy." Dawn was not happy with being treated like a little girl again.

"Dawn, trust me, you don't need to see this or be involved with it."

Dawn studied her sister's bloody, ragged clothes, and saw the tired look in her eyes. "Okay." She made herself understand that this was just her sister's way of caring for her. "Let's go, Andrew."

Buffy waited for the two to leave before she began.

"Where did you come from?" She asked the girl.

She had short, brown, jagged hair. Her eyes were wild. Buffy saw a survivor in them. This girl was dangerous. The blood that was covering her made her seem even more crazed.

"There's no point. I'm not gonna tell you anything," the girl responded.

"What do you know about the senior partners?" Buffy asked her.

"Who?" The girl feigned ignorance.

"How many others do they have?" Buffy's questioning wouldn't stop.

"Why? Do you wanna kill the rest of them too?"

"Well, when I get attacked, I fight back. You do too."

The girl just snorted.

"What did they do to you?" Buffy continued.

The girl gave no answer.

"Did they hurt you?"

The girl remained silent.

"Do you even know what you are?"

The girl's eyes darted to Buffy, glaring at her. "Do you know what you are?"

"I'm a slayer, just like you."

"I'm no slayer!"

"Then what are you?" Buffy countered.

"You're a monster, a murderer!"

"Is that what they told you?"

"Let me go!" The girl snarled. "Or just kill me already, I won't tell you a damn thing."

"Do you have any family?" Buffy just went on.

"You killed them," the girl said bleakly.

"And they killed mine."

The girl laughed darkly, "What did you think would happen?"

Buffy didn't understand. "What do you mean?"

"You had to be stopped."

"From doing what?"

The girl looked like she was contemplating something. "I'm done talking."

"From doing what?" Buffy said more aggressively.

She got no answer.

"This isn't gonna work, slayer." Spike whispered to her.

"Then what are we supposed to do?" She whispered back.

"Maybe we should be a little more… Threatening."

Buffy wasn't sure how she felt about this, but then she thought of all those young girls who had been brutally murdered.

"Okay." She nodded her head. Even though she felt that it was necessary and deserved, Buffy didn't want to be there to watch. "You take care of this. I'm gonna go see how the others are."

Spike didn't mind that she wanted to stay away. "Send Angel down, would you?"

Buffy nodded, and then walked out of the basement.

As she was on her way back towards the library, she say Illyria standing around by herself.

"Where's Angel?" Buffy asked her.

"He wished to escape all this death. He left some time ago."

"Thanks anyway," Buffy mumbled.

"He grieves. It is constant. It's repulsive." Apparently she got over her moment of grief for Wesley, and was now back to being sickened by emotions.

Buffy didn't ask Illyria for the cause of his grief.

As she was walking away she said to herself, "Where would he go?"

"You lookin' for me?" A voice said from the shadows.

Buffy gasped and jumped. "Now is really not the time to sneak up on people, Angel."

"Sorry. I was already here though, to be fair."

Buffy nodded, "Right…"

"Did you need something?" He asked her.

"Uh, yeah… Spike was wanting your help in the basement."

Angel gave her a questioning look.

"I couldn't get the slayer to talk." Buffy shrugged.

"Oh…" Angel said, "Well, I better go then."

"Yeah," was all Buffy said.

Things weren't usually awkward between her and Angel, but that was.

She made her way to the library wherein Giles' office was located. She saw that he was stamping papers. As she got closer to his desk, the writing of the stamp was legible. Buffy sat down and stayed silent for a while.

"I miss Willow."

Giles stopped his work and looked up at Buffy, "As do I."

After a moment of silence between the two, Giles asked, "How have things been going?"

Buffy sighed, "Well, we're just waiting 'til morning for…"

Giles nodded in understanding.

She continued, "And Spike and I have been interrogating that slayer, well, I've been, but I didn't get anywhere, so Spike and Angel are down there with her now."

Giles just nodded again. He was quite sure that if it wasn't Angel and Spike down there, then it would've been him.

Normally, Buffy would be wary of her watcher's reaction to torture, but the past years have revealed a darker side of him, and Buffy knew that he's have no problem with the vamps' methods.

"Do you think that they'll get any information from her?"

Buffy thought about it, "I'm not sure, I mean, she's angry, Giles… She's probably used to being abused…"

"I agree. Violence won't get her to open up. It'll take emotional trust, which, unfortunately, is something completely foreign to her."

"Well, I won't be the one to get through to her. I don't know what they told her about me, but it's bad."

"Let me do it."

Giles and Buffy both looked Dawn, who was standing in the doorway. She had obviously been eavesdropping.

Buffy objected, "No, Dawn-"

"But, Buffy, she's not gonna listen to you, or any of the other slayers. She might not even know who I am." Dawn desperately wanted her sister to give her this chance.

Buffy decided to humor Dawn, "So, what's your plan then?"

Dawn tried to contain her excitement, especially considering the recent events. "Okay, well, I'll go along with whatever she thinks, like I'll make her think it's all true. And hopefully she'll believe me and then…well, I'll just go from there."

Buffy started to say something, but Dawn cut her off. "Look, I know it's not a completely thought out plan, but it could work, it really could. It's just a go with the flow thing. I know what to do, Buffy. Just let me at least try."

Buffy wasn't completely on board, but this was the only real plan that they had. She and Giles made eye contact.

"Okay, Dawn. You can do this, but we have to wait for Spike and Angel to finish their…questioning…"

Dawn breathed a sigh of relief.

It was a while longer before the two vampires came up out of the basement.

Buffy was still sitting in Giles' office. She turned to Spike, "Anything?"

"No, the bird's not giving anything up."

Buffy nodded, "Well, we have a plan, actually, Dawn has a plan. Should one of us be there?"

Dawn shook her head, "No, it has to just be me."

"Okay, be careful. And remember, we don't have any time to spare."

Dawn smiled and headed for the basement.

She was really nervous. If this worked out, then they could finally bring the senior partners down.

When she entered the main room of the basement, she could see the slayer chained up, even more bloody than before. Dawn was trying very hard to not think about what Spike and Angel did to her. But, she deserved it anyway.

"Another one comes for a try, huh?" The slayer said hoarsely.

"No." Dawn shook her heard. "No, I came to help you."

The slayer scoffed.

"Really, I did," Dawn insisted.

"So what, you gonna get me outta here?"

"If I can."

The slayer studied her, "I'll believe it when you do it."

"Well, where do you need to go?" Dawn asked.

The girl looked at Dawn disbelievingly. "Do you really think I'm gonna tell you that? Mole."

This was not going as Dawn hoped. "I'm not. It's just, getting you out of here won't be easy, so I kinda need to know. Like a plan, you know."

"Right."

Dawn sighed. "Look it's just… This place is horrible." Dawn said quietly. "I'm scared here. You don't know what happens here." Dawn had no idea what this slayer thought Buffy did, so she was taking a leap of faith with this false confession.

"Believe me, I do."

Yes, Dawn thought happily. "I'm stuck here, but you don't have to be."

The slayer looked at her, "You're a human?"

Dawn nodded. "And you're a…"

"Assassin, but we're good."

"Oh." Dawn wasn't sure what to say here.

"How'd you get involved with them?"

Dawn was honest, "She's my sister."

"What if they catch you?"

Dawn shrugged, "I dunno… Uh, well, they might kill me, but it's worth it, in the end. If it gets you out."

"Well… You could come with. I'm sure they could make you one of us."

A slayer, Dawn thought. What on Earth did they tell her about her powers? She really didn't know anything, and it was almost sad. "Who?"

"The partners. The senior partners."

"Oh, cool." Dawn said half-heartedly.

"And then, we'll come back here and finish them off." The slayer, err, assassin, said raspingly.

Dawn tried to hide her shock. "Yeah, yeah… It's what they deserve." Thinking about killing Buffy was horrifying to her.

The slayer looked angry for a moment, "No. They deserve more than that. They deserve to suffer, to watch the ones they love die like I did. Like the rest did."

This slayer could go from naïve to scary, and she never even realized how much her personality changed. Dawn wasn't sure if this girl trusted her at all yet, but she was gonna go for it anyway.

"So where are these senior partners?"

The slayer debated for a moment, "Los Angeles."

Dawn's heart was racing. This girl was giving her the information they needed. Dawn never realized she was that good of an actress. Unless she's lying…

"Oh, I used to live there," Dawn stated.

"Well the place is gone now."

"Yeah, I heard about that."

"And it's all that vamp's fault." The slayer said darkly.

"Angel."

"He's hardly that."

Dawn laughed genuinely. It was kinda true.

The slayer gave a small smile in return.

"So, if the city is empty and no one's allowed in, then how are the senior partners there?" Dawn hoped this question wasn't too much.

"We run underground. No one knows we're there."

Dawn wanted to ask more about the partners, but she didn't want to seem suspicious. "Oh… I'm sorry about what they did to you."

"It's nothing."

"So, the senior partners do worse to you then?"

"They have to keep us in line somehow." The slayer was very matter-of-fact about it.

"Wow… They sound…scary."

"Well, it's not the senior partners themselves. It's their employees, but they control them."

"So where are the senior partners then?"

"Why do you keep asking so many questions?"

Oh no, the slayer was on to her. "Well, I mean, if I'm gonna go with you, I just wanna know."

"That makes sense. You really think things out. See, you were meant to be one of us."

I really wasn't, Dawn thought. "Thanks." She laughed quietly.

"Well I'm not sure where they are. But they're not here, like on Earth. But they have a way to get here somehow 'cause the associates can travel to wherever they are."

"Oh, how?" This was it. The real information they needed. Dawn's heart was racing again.

"I dunno exactly. There's some weird door I guess. It's in the underground somewhere. They don't let us see it, and they don't even know that we know about it."

Dawn was ecstatic. She really did it. That's all that she needed to know. But now she had to leave. Does she continue the act, or just get up? Now she was even more nervous because she felt guilty. She felt guilty for lying to a slayer that killed tons of girls, and Kennedy. It was ridiculous, but Dawn couldn't help it.

As her heart continued to beat quickly, Dawn stood up.

"Where are you going?" The slayer asked her innocently.

"Umm… I'm sorry." Dawn started to back away from the girl.

"You lied… You lied to me!" The slayer yelled.

"I'm sorry, but you're a murderer."

"No! They're the murderers! I trusted you!"

Dawn's eyes welled up. "I'm sorry." And she walked out of the basement as the slayer continued to yell after her.

She went upstairs to Giles' office.

"Did you do it?"

Dawn nodded her head. Her wave of pride had faded.

"Well, she's not the brightest slayer in the shed, is she?"

Buffy gave him a look.

"But, uh, good job Dawn."

"She was just lonely." Dawn said quietly, only the vamps could hear her clearly.

"And because of that, she was actually more trusting then she should've been." Angel said to Dawn.

"You have nothing to feel guilty for, Dawn. Really, you don't. We're all proud of you." Giles told her.

Dawn smiled. "Thanks."

"So, what did find out?" Buffy asked.

Dawn sat down. "Well, they operate in L.A. In the underground of it. The partners have associates that deal with the slayers. And she said that the portal is down there somewhere."

"Are you sure that she was telling the truth?" Buffy asked.

"I think so. She was pretty devastated when she found out I was lying to her."

"Okay." Buffy said nodding. "So when the sun comes up we bury the girls and then we leave for L.A."

Everyone was silent.

Buffy sighed, "But how are we supposed to get there?"

Since the natural disasters had started occurring, all planes were grounded.

No one had an answer.

"How about we get some rest for now?" Giles offered. "It's been a very long day. And things are only going to intensify in the days to come."

Buffy agreed to it even though she knew that she wouldn't be able to sleep.

Angel left Giles' office, followed by Dawn, and then Buffy and Spike.

As they were walking back to their room Buffy said, "I can't sleep."

"But you need to, Buffy."

"No. There are hundreds of dead girls in this house, and I can't just go to sleep and have happy dreams. It doesn't work that way."

"Don't punish yourself for this."

She didn't reply.

Spike could feel her pulling away from him. She was planning something, and he tried to hope that it wasn't what he thought it was. There was no way he was going to let her out of his sight from now on. Spike wouldn't lose her.

She was sitting on the bed, mindlessly staring into the ground.

"Luv, with me you don't have to put up this front."

"But if I let go of it, Spike, then… What if I..."

"What if you what? You're not gonna lose your strength. No one's gonna care, no one's gonna know. Except me."

She looked at him, and remembered why they were together.

"We've treated each other horribly, Spike. But now-"

"But now we're making each other better."

She nodded earnestly.

He sat there next to her, waiting for the waterworks to start.

"Not yet." She said. She was barely hanging on by a thread, but she had to keep hanging on for a while more.

"Alright." He kissed her forehead. She only increased his concern by the minute.

Buffy turned on the T.V. It was the local news, and the headline read: "Thousands More Dead after Increased Weather Activity."

"Oh, no." Buffy sighed.

Willow was really going to pay for this.

Eventually Spike fell asleep against his will. But Buffy stayed up the whole night lying right next to him. She belonged here, but she wasn't sure if it would last.

The sound of machines brought her out of her comatose state, and woke Spike up.

"The suns out." Buffy told him.

She left Spike outside and went to find Xander.

She was surprised to find him not operating any machinery, while other men did.

"Should they be here?"

"Oh, don't worry about it. They won't go inside. I told them that Giles was a crazy ol' drunk man. I implied that it's the reason for the eye, or lack thereof."

Buffy nodded. She could smell the alcohol on Xander, but she didn't say anything. Who was she to judge?

It took hours for the ground to be torn up. Buffy had no idea what excuse Xander gave the workers, but she didn't ask.

In the middle of the day the slayers, Giles, Xander, and (with some help from) Andrew, carried the bodies outside. Luckily the mansion was a secluded estate, so no one could see.

Xander had rented one of the machines to put the dirt back over the giant hole in the ground. And by the time they were done, he had sobered up enough to operate.

"Is he even legally allowed to use that?" Andrew asked.

No one answered him.

"Is that an insensitive question?"

Buffy smirked. Andrew was annoying sometimes, but Buffy was always grateful for him.

"Who wants to speak?" Buffy asked when Xander was done.

Faith and Robin made it outside to join them. He was still pretty beat up, but he'd survive. Faith had been taking care of him. Buffy was amused to see her in the caretaker position.

No one offered to speak. They knew it should be her.

"Okay, I will then." She cleared her throat. "I didn't personally know most of these girls. I didn't even know their names, but I saw a lot of them in action. That can be the way slayer really shows herself. I hate burying them this way, I hate the fact that they died, that they were called for this. But I'm proud of them for being this brave, and know that we will avenge them when we take down the senior partners."

It wasn't her best speech ever, but Buffy hoped that it would be effective.

They took some time standing by the grave. And eventually when they couldn't take looking at it anymore, the group went inside.

"So we need to get ready."

Everyone looked confused. Angel and Spike had now joined the group.

"Uh, for what, Buff?" Said Xander, speaking for everyone.

"To go to L.A."

"Problem! We don't know how to get there. Remember?" Xander was speaking very slowly to her.

"I do."

They were all quiet.

"Well, then… Do share with the class, Buff."

"It's Dawn. The key."

Dawn's eyes widened. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. I don't-"

"No it's okay, Dawnie. There won't be any blood sacrifice, no dying, no anything like that. Spike told me a little about Illyria, and I think that she can open a portal. She still has some power, right? It won't harm you Dawn, I promise. I mean, I highly doubt that she would be able to open a portal to the senior partner's dimension, that would be too much." She had no evidence to prove this, but she was certain about it.

No one said anything.

"Well, it's at least worth a try."

As the group approached Illyria, she ignored their presence.

"Let me handle this," Spike said to Buffy. He was only worried about Dawn's safety, but otherwise, it was a good plan. He expected nothing less from Buffy, though.

"Uh, Little Shiva…"

Illyria gave Spike her attention.

"We need your help with something."

She was silent.

Spike sighed, "We need you to open a portal using her." He pointed to Dawn.

"The key should have enough power for you to do it," Buffy told her.

"I can accomplish this task easily." Illyria said, sounding uninterested as usual.

"Well…" Buffy said.

Everyone was standing around awkwardly.

"Okay, some of you should stay here. Andrew, Dawn, Robin… Faith?"

Faith looked at Robin.

"Go," he told her.

Faith nodded to Buffy.

"Okay, anyone else wanna stay?"

She was mostly speaking to Xander and Giles. But neither of them wanted to miss out on this.

"The slayers should stay here, just in case. I mean, we don't know how long we'll be gone."

She was silent for a moment. This was it. The end of the senior partners.

"Let's go." She nodded to everyone. And then she turned to watch Illyria open a portal to L.A.

Buffy thought she knew how this would all end, but unfortunately, things rarely go as expected for the Scoobies.


	25. A Sudden Detour

Hello all! Here's a brand new chapter and I hope it leaves you eager for the next one (which will obviously be longer, and more will happen), so read and then, say it with me... review! (Please?)

25. A Sudden Detour

Illyria raised her hand up to Dawn's body and suddenly a bright light started to emerge from Dawn. Most of the Scoobies were backing away, but Buffy stayed right by her sister.

The portal was like a projection coming out of Dawn. It was dark with an incredible amount of energy flowing through it.

Buffy caught herself thinking about how much power Illyria actually had. It was kind of frightening.

The portal was creating a strong wind around the group.

"Okay," Buffy yelled so the others could hear her, "I'll go first. Faith, you're last."

Faith nodded. Being last in this case was actually a good thing. It meant that Buffy was making her next in charge, but it also made Faith curious about Buffy's plans. She and Spike should be the leaders, but Buffy didn't want him to be… What was she planning?

She grabbed her scythe and then Buffy leaped through the portal. Seconds later she was standing in the middle of an empty, ruined street. Where did Illyria transport them?

Seconds later Spike was there, and even though it was in the middle of the day, he didn't burst into flames.

"Spike?" Buffy was terrified that he might fry right in front of her again.

"It's alright. The sun can't reach here anymore, not after the apocalypse and not now after Red's stint as Mother Bleeding Nature."

"The environment's all screwy," she said trying to calm herself down a bit, but now she was on edge.

By now most of the gang was here.

"Are you guys are all okay?" Buffy checked.

They all nodded their heads, except Xander. He felt kinda sick.

"Good. So… Where are we? How do we get underground?"

"Leave that to me," Angel told her.

While things in L.A. were going smoothly so far for the Scoobies, Willow was not faring as well.

Her guilt increased by the minute. And that only plunged her further into the darkness. There would be no admitting defeat for her. She had a mission, and it was the right thing for her to do. She couldn't stop it because if that was taken away from her then she was just a murderer, plain and simple.

It was like she had developed a split personality overtime. Sometimes she was Willow, albeit Willow under a dark magical influence, but still Willow. She could think clearly and had emotions.

Then there was the witch. The side that everyone was scared of. She despised emotions and fed off of Willow's. She was darkness personified.

Ironically, though, it was Willow that had done the most damage. The witch had only harmed Buffy once.

While she was walking around her apartment, she felt something, a strong magical surge. It wasn't from the senior partners, it was from somewhere in this dimension. Her instincts told her that it had to be connected to the Scoobies; where else would it come from?

Her power gave her new abilities. She didn't need location spells to find people anymore, she could do it all with her mind. As she closed her eyes, she reached her mind outwards. And she found that the Scoobies were not in England.

Somehow they got to L.A., and it wasn't by traditional transportation means.

"The key." It was so obvious to her now, why hadn't she thought of that earlier?

Willow was surprised by their stupidity. They were just going to go in there without her help. It would be much harder for them this way.

She shook her head in dismay. Now she was going to have to save the day.

The Scoobies had been following Angel for a while now, making their way down to the tunnels of L.A.

The city was destroyed. Countless numbers of buildings had collapsed, and they had a grayish tint. The land was desolate and brown. The group could only walk in silence.

Giles and Xander were getting pretty tired already, and there was much more walking ahead of them.

Buffy halted. She was staring out into the distance with a mystified look on her face.

"Buffy?" Angel said trying to get her attention.

"We can take a small break. They need it." She sounded so very detached, her focus was elsewhere.

Angel didn't argue. The two normal humans sat down to rest.

Buffy snapped out of her state. "I'm gonna look around, see if I can make out any of these buildings." It was a weak excuse, but it worked, mostly.

She walked away and rounded a corner causally, but when she disappeared out of the group's sight, she increased the speed in her step.

"Buffy!" Spike called.

"Dammit." She said under her breath.

She turned around smiling.

"Where're you headed, slayer?"

"I told you-"

"No. Don't lie to me. Don't."

"Spike," Buffy said shamefully, "I have to do this." She looked at him pleadingly, her eyes welling up.

"Do what?"

"I'm so sorry. I love you. You know I do. Just remember that, okay. I know it's not gonna be enough, but this has to happen. It's inevitable, Spike."

Spike still didn't get it because he didn't want to. He was angry with her, even though he didn't know exactly what was going on, he could tell that it was bad because she felt guilty.

Buffy kissed him quickly, and then she arched her arm back and hit him with all the force she could muster. He was out cold, well, colder then he naturally is.

She caught him before he hit the ground, and she slowly eased him to the crumbled pavement.

"I had to do it." Buffy declared.

"He's gonna be very angry when he wakes up." Angel responded casually.

She nodded and turned to face the other vampire. "Yeah, he'll understand eventually, well, actually, he probably won't… It doesn't change anything though."

"Then you better go." Angel told her.

"Yeah. Keep him here when he comes to, okay?"

"He's gonna kill me, you know." Angel sounded uneasy.

"Since when have you been scared of Spike?" Buffy said teasingly.

Angel smirked, "Come back." He said it threateningly.

She nodded unsurely, "You'll know what to do, just in case?"

"I'm sure I'll figure it out."

Before she left, Buffy knelt down by Spike and whispered in his ear, "I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise. You deserve better, you always have." Then she kissed his forehead and walked away.

Angel had always been certain of Buffy's strength. He always knew she'd come back, but now he wasn't so sure.

She was walking away from the cluttered areas towards bare land where Buffy knew she'd be.

Would Spike forgive her for this? Maybe, but she wouldn't blame him if he didn't. She made a promise, and yeah, she was lying when she made it. Buffy always intended to do this. But there were bigger things going on than her and Spike right now. She had to focus.

As she edged closer, Buffy saw the black clad figure standing, facing away from her.

"I knew you'd come." Buffy revealed. "I was waiting."

Willow turned around, "And you kept it from them." She said reprovingly.

Buffy didn't react.

"Now there's the Buffy we all know and love." Willow started to walk around, causing Buffy to do the same. Now they were circling each other.

"Yeah, I'm sure you're included in that 'we'," Buffy said sarcastically while pointing at her face.

"That wasn't supposed to happen."

"According to you, none of this is your fault, is it? Why don't you take some responsibility, Willow."

"You're pushing for another one of those aren't you?"

"No, I just really wanna get this over with."

"Oh, don't worry. I think it'll be over quickly." Willow said arrogantly.

"Then why are you dragging it out?"

"I want the last words." Willow shrugged.

"Well, that'll never happen with me here, you should know that after all these years."

Willow froze in her place, "Then let's just do this, so that you won't be here," she replied.

Buffy had also stopped, "Alright then, I'm ready."

"Ready to die?" Willow asked.

Buffy didn't respond.

Suddenly, Willow raised her hands up.

Buffy lunged to attack Willow, lifting her weapon into the air.

The battle was on...


	26. Story Time in the HQ

Hey everyone, so this is a ridiculous chapter that I wrote in the middle of class. I thought it would be funny, but whenever I try to be funny I never am, soooo, I'm hoping that this is somewhat enjoyable, or maybe I just have a weird sense of humor :)

The next chapter will continue the Buffy/Willow confrontation, I'm just going to take a while to write it because I want it to be really good and intense! Speaking of that, the next chapter will be called: Her Final Standoff, And All Things Will End. So, any guess on what'll happen? Of course I know what's going to happen, but I'd still love to hear your ideas. Let me know!

So read and review. Seriously, please do. And if this is stupid then I'll take it down or something, and we'll get right back to the main plot :)

26. Story Time in the HQ

Andrew, Dawn, and Robin were in the sitting room, waiting. They were waiting for something to happen.

"Do you think they'll be okay?" Dawn inquired to no one in particular.

"Look, I learned my lesson. I'm never gonna doubt your sister again, and I haven't even been around here as long as the rest of you. So yeah, she'll get the job done." Robin, who wasn't allowed to do anything but lay on his back, replied.

Dawn nodded. Why did she ever doubt Buffy? She always ended up being right in the end. "Yeah, I'm just worrying too much."

"Dawn, let me take you through the exciting new chapter of a little story I like to call: 'Buffy, the Slayer of the Vampyres'. It might cheer you up," Andrew said to her.

Dawn only humored Andrew because she needed to get her mind off everything that had happened, and maybe this is what Andrew needed too. "Alright, but can you make the story a little less… Nonfictiony?"

This through him for a loop, "Well, it might complicate things, but I will try, my young girl."

"Andrew, you're not even that much older than me-" Dawn stated.

"Shh, shh, shh…" Andrew quieted her shaking his head. "Now where was I? Oh, yes!" He cleared his throat again and began in a dramatic voice, "Somewhere far, far away, in the wonderful land of… Loz Angelezzzzz, there was a group of friends who had an interesting history together. There was the brain, the heart, the rebel, a criminal, the lion, a…blue munchkin? And of course, Dorthy- err, Duffy. Yeah! Duffy."

"Andrew, are you simultaneously combining our world, _The Breakfast Club_, and_ The Wizard of Oz_?" Dawn asked him.

"Do you wanna tell this story, Dawn?" Andrew retorted. How had she figured out his premise so quickly?

"I really don't."

"That's what I thought- Hey! You asked for a more fictiony story." He said to her.

"You're right, I'm sorry, Andrew. Go on." She decided to just let him roll with this ridiculous story.

He just glared at her.

"Uh, if it helps, I love those movies. I really do."

Andrew sighed, "Fine. But no more interruptions. So, the heroic group is walking down the Black Ashed Road-"

"Black Ashed?"

"Well, Los Angeles is destroyed- I mean Loz Angelezzzz- I mean, no interruptions!"

"Sorry, sorry. Go on."

Andrew glared at her some more, "As I was saying, they were walking down the Black Ashed Road discussing their personal experiences with stereotyping. The dashing rebel, Willy Spidol, said 'Soddin' people never trust me,'" Andrew was speaking in a horrible British accent and he attempted the dialect, "'it's like they think I'll pick their bloody pockets, and it might be bloody well true, but still, they don't even get to bloody know me…'"

Andrew continued his imaginary group's sharing circle, and of course they eventually winded up laying down in a field of pot. Then… Well, you can figure out where it goes from there…

An hour later, Andrew was still telling his story. Dawn actually grew to enjoy it, and Robin was secretly listening to it also.

"Now, our heroes are running to escape the flying orcs-"

"Wait, wait a minute. Where did _The Lord of the Rings_ come in?" Robin spoke for the first time, letting the other's in on his investment into the story.

"Just now." Andrew said factually.

"Oh… Okay, then…" Robin said nodding his head slowly. He was cool with it.

Andrew continued his ridiculous story, and it went on for quite a while. It had a happy ending because that's what they all really needed right now.

These three Scooby members had been left behind, understandably, and now they were trying to make the best of it by shifting their feelings of grief and fear to warmth and funniness, no matter how long it might last.


	27. Her Final Standoff

Hey readers! So, brand spankin' new chapter here. There's really not much to say, so... read and review please :)

27. Her Final Standoff, And All Things Will End

"I knew you'd come." Buffy revealed. "I was waiting."

Willow turned around, "And you kept it from them." She said reprovingly.

Buffy didn't react.

"Now there's the Buffy we all know and love." Willow started to walk around, causing Buffy to do the same. Now they were circling each other.

"Yeah, I'm sure you're included in that 'we'," Buffy said sarcastically while pointing at her face.

"That wasn't supposed to happen."

"According to you, none of this is your fault, is it? Why don't you take some responsibility, Willow."

"You're pushing for another one of those aren't you?"

"No, I just really wanna get this over with."

"Oh, don't worry. I think it'll be over quickly." Willow said arrogantly.

"Then why are you dragging it out?"

"I want the last words." Willow shrugged.

"Well, that'll never happen with me here, you should know that after all these years."

Willow froze in her place, "Then let's just do this, so that you won't be here," she replied.

Buffy had also stopped, "Alright then, I'm ready."

"Ready to die?" Willow asked.

Buffy didn't respond.

Suddenly, Willow raised her hands up.

Buffy lunged to attack Willow, lifting her weapon into the air.

Willow had underestimated Buffy. She was fast, faster than she'd ever been, surprisingly. Buffy's scythe nearly took off Willow's right hand, but she moved just in time and was now perpendicular to the slayer.

Willow raised her hands again to attack, and Buffy turned, swinging the scythe with all her might. Willow nearly got hit again, but moved. This would be more difficult than she thought. Of course, she could just immobilize Buffy in a jiffy, but Willow wanted to win this fair and square. But was this Willow, or the witch? Sometimes even Willow herself couldn't tell anymore. Did she really want to kill her best friend?

Willow silently cast a spell, and Buffy doubled over in pain.

It felt like Buffy's insides had been twisted around, it was incredibly unsettling. The attack left her out of breath.

"Neat trick." Buffy managed to say.

"Wanna see more?" Willow replied.

For an instant, Buffy realized the stupidity of this. She might die. Actually, she probably would die. There was no turning back though.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Willow unleashed a blast of dark magic. Buffy was weakened from Willow's last attack and she couldn't move quickly enough. The magic struck the right side of her body. Buffy cried out in pain. It left a huge cut across Buffy's torso.

Willow wasn't playing around anymore. She had to get Buffy to stop this; otherwise things would not end well for her.

Buffy swung right around after that attack and tried to bring her scythe down on Willow, but there was suddenly a force field around Willow. The collision of the weapon and the wall created a loud crash and a lightning effect.

Buffy pulled back her scythe, "If it weren't for your magic, Willow, I'd kill you in no time." Buffy said hoarsely.

"I can still put up a pretty good fight, Buffy," Willow said in a perfectly normal voice, "but, I like being the more powerful one… How are you expecting to win this, Buffy?"

"I dunno, but there'll be a way, a moment, and I'll slip in there and it'll all be over."

Willow was in the middle of a rock and a hard place. Buffy just wouldn't give up.

Since Willow didn't reply, Buffy went to attack again.

It caught Willow off guard, and Buffy managed to graze the witch's arm with the scythe.

Willow winced in pain. She was barely keeping control of herself now.

The two women were facing each other. Buffy was watching Willow carefully. She seemed to be struggling with herself. Willow was breathing heavily and twitching slightly.

Buffy was actually worried about her.

"Willow?"

Willow froze. The darkness had taken over, she had lost complete control.

"Let's do this your way, Buffy. The fair way. No magic, no weapons."

Buffy noted the change in Willow, but didn't say anything. "Alright, can I trust you to keep to your word?"

"Of course."

Buffy didn't believe her, but this was the only way she'd have an actual chance of defeating Willow. She threw her scythe far away from her. She was completely vulnerable. If Willow decided to go back on her word, Buffy would be dead in seconds. But a magical attack never came, even after Buffy had been standing there, weaponless, for a minute or so.

Then Willow started walking forward, towards Buffy, who met her halfway.

They were standing inches away from each other now.

"Well, good luck, Buffy." Willow said sardonically.

In seconds, Buffy arched her arm back and hit Willow as hard as she could. It pushed Willow back a couple of feet. But she didn't stay there for long, Willow rushed back over to Buffy and attempted to hit her back, but Buffy blocked it. She punched Willow in the stomach and when Willow leaned forward from the blow, Buffy punched her in the face again.

Physical combat was Buffy's forte. Willow, even though she was just as powerful as Buffy in this area, didn't stand a chance.

The witch's nose was bleeding. Willow raised her hands up, making Buffy think a magical attack was coming, but Willow simply healed herself.

"We said no magic, Willow!"

"Ah, ah, ah, Buffy, I'm pretty sure the deal was no weapons or magic used on the other. I never said I wouldn't use it on myself."

Buffy sighed, "Always read the fine print, right?"

Willow nodded her head, "Atta girl."

Then Buffy charged her. Willow certainly wasn't expecting that.

The slayer knocked Willow to the ground and had her pinned. Buffy started punching her, and didn't stop. She was going to have to keep Willow occupied at all times so she wouldn't be able to heal herself.

Buffy was injured, and tired, but she didn't give up. Luckily her strength didn't give up on her either. Willow was getting beaten pretty badly, and she wasn't getting any chance to retaliate.

Willow was struggling like crazy, but Buffy wouldn't let her up. The damage was getting more severe. Some of the bones in Willow's skull were surely broken and there was blood all over her face, not to mention Buffy's fists.

Willow needed to do something.

"Buff-" Willow started to say, but she was interrupted by Buffy's fist.

"Bu-" She tried again, but Buffy really was not letting up.

"Buffy!" She finally got out, but it had no effect.

"I'm sorry!" She yelled in between punches.

"Oh, really?" Buffy responded, but continued her attacks.

"Yes! I mean it." Willow said, sounding pretty sincere even though it was just a ploy.

Buffy considered this for second, but decided that Willow couldn't be sincere, so she went to punch her again. It was too late though. That one second of Buffy halting her assault was all Willow needed to break free from Buffy's hold.

Willow pushed Buffy off of her, sending the slayer flying a few feet back.

The witch walked over to Buffy and hit her, pushing Buffy's face to the ground. Then Willow kicked her.

Buffy cried out.

Willow attempted to stomp Buffy's face in, but Buffy was quick enough to catch Willow's foot. The slayer twisted Willow's ankle around, and the bones could be heard breaking.

Willow shouted in pain right before Buffy kicked Willow's other leg out from under her, sending the witch to the ground hard.

Willow raised her hand up, and Buffy caught it before Willow could do anything.

Then she broke Willow's hand by bending it backwards.

Buffy had decided long ago that this is what needed to be done to Willow. She had killed millions of people, and she killed so many slayers. Willow used to be her best friend, but this wasn't the person Buffy knew and loved. Willow was a true monster now. There was no way any of this could be neither forgotten nor forgiven. Could Buffy really kill her? Honestly, yes, she could if she had to. And that's what it had come to.

Willow cried out again. This wasn't supposed to happen. She was supposed to have stopped Buffy from pursuing this battle. But Willow wasn't strong enough. She then realized that she was thinking somewhat rationally. Had Buffy beaten the dark witch down? Willow was surprisingly in control again.

"Buffy, wait."

"I'm not gonna fall for that again, Wil." Buffy said, and then she started to hit Willow again.

"No it's really me, it really is. Please." Willow truly was begging for Buffy to listen to her.

She didn't listen, though.

"Buffy stop. Please stop." Willow was almost hysterical. She had to make things right again.

Buffy hit her again, but said, "Alright, talk then, otherwise I'm gonna go right back to attacking you."

"I'm sorry." Willow said.

"You're sorry? You're sorry, Willow? Do you have any idea what you've done?" Buffy was so very, very angry right now.

"Yes, I know. I know what I've done, and it's horrible. But I couldn't stop, I couldn't 'cause then it was all for nothing, it was all pointless." Willow was crying now.

"No, Willow, that's not it. You were just too embarrassed, too stubborn, to admit that you were doing the wrong. You were lying to yourself to make you feel better."

"But I can fix it, Buffy, I can. I really can."

"How can you fix any of this? Can you bring all those people back, Willow?" Buffy countered.

"I don't think so, but-"

"Then you can't fix it."

Willow was frustrated. Buffy wouldn't understand.

"Just let me up, Buffy."

"No."

"Buffy." Willow said dangerously.

"Willow, if you attempt to use any magic I will kill you right now."

But Willow went for it anyway. She placed a shield around herself, knocking Buffy backwards, off of Willow.

"Dammit, Willow!" Buffy yelled.

"I really am sorry, Buffy, for everything."

"Willow…" Buffy didn't even know what to say anymore. Willow was probably just going to disappear again to never be found this time.

Then Willow closed her eyes, and started to push back on the senior partner's constant, normal pressure. She didn't absorb any energy this time, it was all her own. Willow could feel herself being drained, but she didn't stop. Then the senior partners started to push back harder. Willow had only one option now.

Buffy was watching all of this in confusion, but then Willow extended her arms out, and she seemed to be in pain, but not from their battle. Willow was struggling with herself again, and she was groaning quietly.

In actuality, Willow was very calm right now; she knew exactly what she was doing.

And then, Willow screamed. It was deafening; a guttural sound full of pain, anger, misery, and even a hint of desperateness.

The sound resonated in Buffy's ear drums; it made the hair on the back of her neck stand. She was absolutely horrified by this. Buffy just stood there in terror, she felt sick, and she was frozen in her spot. What was happening? Buffy was unable to process anything.

There was a thunderous roar, and a surge of magic blasted out of Willow's hands and shot up into the sky, it was a dark purple and blue light mixed in with white streaks. Buffy was almost blinded by it. She held her hand up to protect her eyes while she was holding her hair down. Willow's action was creating a small wind storm around the two women, but Buffy was helpless to do anything.

Willow's scream seemed to last forever, but it was only seconds long. When the sound died, the magic steadily flowing out of her ended, and Willow's appearance reverted back to normal, but she collapsed to the ground shortly after.

"Oh, my god… Willow! Willow!" Buffy fearfully ran over to her friend as fast as she could, and kneeled down beside her. She shook Willow, and lightly slapped her face to get her to wake up. Buffy was frantic.

But there was no response.

"Willow!" Buffy cried. "Willow, wake up!"

Buffy felt for her heartbeat, but there was none. Willow wasn't even breathing.

"No… No! Willow…" Tears were running down Buffy's face.

She cradled her best friend in her arms, trying to understand. Buffy was sobbing now, not just for Willow, but for everyone who had died. She had been holding it in for so long to stay strong.

After a few minutes, Buffy had calmed down a bit, and was now sitting there holding Willow's body when she realized that the dirt she was surrounded by had turned into bright green grass. Trees had started growing around her too.

"What…" Buffy realized what Willow did. "You put it all back to normal, how it was before," Buffy spoke softly.

Throughout this whole battle, Buffy had completely forgotten about the senior partners.

"Oh, my god." Buffy gently set Willow back on the ground and stared at her for a moment. She didn't want to leave her here.

"Thank you." Buffy whispered, her eyes still red and watery. Then she looked around for her scythe, which was lying in the grass, grabbed it and went to leave. But she paused and looked back at Willow one last time.

She turned away and ran back to the others. She was full of energy, anger, and pain, and she was ready to kill the senior partners which would be much easier thanks to Willow's sacrifice.

Her mind was a blank slate while she was running back, thinking would only complicate things right now, but she was still fighting back tears the whole time.

Buffy turned the corner, and there were the Scoobies, waiting for her.

"What the hell happened, B?" Faith asked her, looking shocked.

"We don't have time for that, we have to go."

"Buffy," Angel said, "your scar's gone."

"And the environment's been kinda… rejuvenated." Xander piped in.

Buffy was confused, "No, it's not," she reached to feel her face for the hideous gash, but it wasn't there. "What?" Buffy was searching the floor in confusion, as if it would give her the answers. "Willow…" She mumbled quietly. She looked down and even the side wound Willow gave her was gone.

"What happened?" Giles asked her now.

Buffy ignored his question. "We need to go. This is the only window we'll get to sneak up on the senior partners."

Spike was standing the farthest away from her, glowering at her. He was so relieved that she was alive, but he was also angrier with her now.

Buffy could feel the anger rolling off of him, but that wasn't important at the moment.

"Lead the way," she said to Angel, "and hurry!"

Angel headed for the entrance to the tunnels of L.A.

Everyone's adrenaline was pumping through them (well only in the human people), so the walk was hardly difficult.

When they finally arrived, Buffy realized something.

"We don't even know where exactly the portal is supposed to be down here." Her tone almost sounded of defeat, but Angel saved the day.

"No, but we can find it. Can you smell them, too?" He asked to Spike.

Spike just gave a curt nod.

"Wait, you can smell who?" Buffy was confused.

"The slayers," Angel answered after it was apparent that Spike wasn't going to speak to her. Angel understood though. "This way."

They followed Angel a thousand different ways, but they ended up going in circles.

Eventually Angel realized where the portal was hidden.

"It's underneath us. They're in the very underground of L.A., not in the tunnels."

"So… How do we get down there?" Buffy asked him.

Angel never answered because he was inspecting the wall. It was made of metal and there was a hollow area behind it.

"Through this," he finally answered while tearing off the piece of walling.

Angel went through the threshold and everyone followed. This area was much darker than the tunnels, and it seemed more dangerous too. There were very few straight passageways.

Buffy had no idea where they were supposed to head now, but Angel seemed to. She wasn't sure if he was using scent, instincts, or just completely guessing on the right way, but she followed him willingly.

Angel stopped suddenly.

"What is it?" Buffy whispered.

"Slayers." He responded.

"How many?"

He shrugged. "Hundreds."

"Well, we'll deal with them later. We need to get that portal like now, Angel."

He nodded. "I figure it'll be guarded, they might know you're coming, they might not."

"Let's just go, we can take 'em." Buffy said confidently.

Angel didn't argue with her. If she could take down Willow, then she could probably kill the senior partners by herself. Although, that wasn't gonna happen because Angel was planning on taking out at least one of them himself.

He rounded the corner, and soon they rounded another.

As they were walking, Buffy could hear the chatter of the slayers. What were the senior partners planning on doing with them?

She didn't focus on that for long, though. And eventually, Angel stopped again right before a corner. He peaked around the edge.

"There's a door right there."

"So what are we waiting for?"

"Are you sure you're ready for this?"

"Oh, didn't you know, Angel? Buffy always wants to go into a battle, even if it might cost her her bloody life," Spike said dryly, without emotion.

Buffy flinched from his words and his tone.

"Hey! Why don't you shut it, bleach boy?" Faith said to Spike.

Spike opened his mouth to retort, but Buffy cut him off, "You guys stop." She gave Faith a small smile, and then turned around to Angel, "Yeah, I'm ready."

Angel headed around the corner, with the rest of them following, and went towards the door and started to open it.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" A man in very fancy suit appeared at the other end of the passageway.

Angel inclined his head towards Buffy, "I'll deal with him. You go ahead, I'll catch up."

"I'm Angel." The associate started to say something, but Angel cut him off. "I don't really care who you are." And he punched him in the face.

Buffy turned the handle, breaking the doorknob, and entered the room. The portal wasn't here, but there was another in this room. She went over and opened it, "This way I guess."

Behind this door was a staircase, "Talk about underground," Buffy said, and then she descended the staircase. It was pitch black, but there was a light ahead.

The room below was a very dank dungeon, with a greenish tint to the walls. And at the end of the room was a portal.

It was a dark red, mixed in with black.

Buffy, Spike, Faith, Giles, Xander, and Illyria walked towards the portal.

"I don't like portals." Xander grumbled, "They make my tummy all rumbly."

Buffy took a moment before going in, she thought about everything that had happened in the past couple of days: all the slayer who died, Kennedy, who was an unofficial member of the Scoobies, Spike's promise that she broke, and…Willow, her best friend who was a mass murderer, and who was now dead because she sacrificed her life for the world. Does her sacrifice now make her a better person, though? Well, there was certainly no time to think about that.

She turned around to face the others, "See ya on the other side."

And Buffy jumped through the portal, leaving this dimension to take on the senior partners and save the world. As usual.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Author's note~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So... Thoughts? Don't hate me or anything, kk? You never know what might happen next... ;)


	28. A View From Up High

Hey guys! It's been a while huh?

Soooo, I'm mainly putting this chapter up so that I can tell you guys that I'm having a seriously hard time writing the chapter that was originally supposed to come after the previous chapter I put up (I can't even remember my own chapter titles! (: Oh well, I'm too lazy to look). Anyway, in the upcoming chapters the Scoobies are gonna go after the three partners, and each one is more difficult to kill than the last one, basically, the third (and last) partner is really complicated. It'll be the hardest battle, and some things happen... ;) *evil laugh*

I'm dealing with finals and moving out, so I'm not sure when I'll finish that chapter :( Sorry, but don't worry I won't let it take that long! But, any suggestions? Things you wanna see happen? Anything?

So this chapter hints at something that is going to happen later, aaaaaaaaaand now I'm done rambling. So please read and review, suggest things if you want, speculate about this chapter, and hopefully I'll overcome my writer's block!

28. A View From Up High

"How are they?" A woman's voice spoke softly.

Another woman replied, "They're almost there, but…"

The first woman nodded her head, "We could ask to help them. Just a little push is all…"

The second woman thought about that while she watched Angel fight a senior partner associate. "No, they needs to do this on his own," she said firmly.

"Well," began the first woman, "it won't be long now… If-" She was cut off before she could even begin her sentence.

"No. It'll be him." The second woman said. "I'm sure of it."

"I'm not disagreeing."

"No, you're just being loyal." The second woman said smiling.

"Of course I am." The first woman said. There was a painful look on her face.

"It'll all be decided soon," the second woman said consolingly.

They continued to watch their heroes' battle play out, hoping for the best, and waiting for the ever promising end.


	29. An Easy Fight

Hi guys! I know this was supposed to be up earlier, but I had the hardest time figuring out what the senior partners should look like. So anyway, I finally decided on something, and then I waited to put this up to see if I could think of something else, but I like this; I think it works. As the title suggests, this isn't a very intense chapter, but the end hints at what's to come. So... Read and Review please? :)

29. An Easy Fight

Buffy had no idea what to expect from the senior partner's dimension. Was it a people type dimension? A hell dimension? A normal demon dimension? Buffy couldn't tell right now because she was lying on a cold, hard, concrete floor in what seemed to be a basement.

Seconds later, Spike came through the portal, hitting the floor hard. He rebounded quickly, and without thinking, he helped Buffy up off the floor.

Xander appeared shortly after Spike. "Well… From a basement to a, uh, basement. Talk about progress."

Soon everyone was present, sans Angel, who was hopefully only dealing with one associate.

"Should we wait for Angel?" Faith asked.

"No, we don't have time," Buffy responded, "but he'll find us. We need to go. Now."

They left through the only door in the room, which led them to another dark, damp basement area. But this room had hallways spreading out in many directions.

The group searched around for a way out, but most of them didn't find anything.

"Buffy!" Xander yelled.

Immediately, Buffy started panicking. Was Xander hurt? She turned around, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Xander? Xander!" Buffy started running to where she thought his voice came from.

Faith, Spike, and Giles followed after Buffy.

"I'm over here!" He sounded alright, which calmed Buffy down a bit.

She found Xander in a few seconds. Buffy let out a sigh of relief.

"There's an elevator!" Xander said happily.

"Does it even work? It looks so old."

After Buffy finished her sentence, the elevator opened on cue. The inside was surprisingly fancy; it stood out from the dark and creepy basement.

Buffy entered the thing very cautiously. The rest of the Scoobies got in with her after she okayed it.

Spike felt odd about the elevator, but he didn't know why.

Soon the doors opened with a ding, letting out the nervous gang.

Spike's jaw dropped.

Buffy exited, and walked out into a very modern, fancy office lobby. She looked down at her current ragged appearance. "Well, I definitely don't belong here," she murmured.

"Oh, bloody hell, I thought I'd got rid of this godforsaken place." Spike said in annoyance.

"Wait. Is this Wolfram & Hart?"

Spike just nodded unhappily.

"So, the senior partner's dimension is just a puny Wolfram & Hart building?"

"I wouldn't underestimate this place, slayer. That'll get you killed here."

"Is anyone else kinda disappointed?" Xander asked. "I mean after the whole First crusade, the dreaded cubicle filled, suck the life outta ya, office building just doesn't have me shaking in my boots anymore."

"I dunno Xander, the thought of ending up in a place like this still makes me run for the hills," Faith responded in all seriousness.

"So…" Buffy began, "Where do we go?"

Spike looked around, "Well, uh, I 'spose we could-"

Spike stopped talking when Wolfram & Hart employees started entering the lobby. The employees stopped in their places.

Buffy took a step forward, "We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way. Just tell us how to get to the senior partners and we'll let you live."

Instead of complying or running away, the employees charged the six Scoobies.

Buffy raised up her scythe and quickly brought it down on the closest demon. Spike punched the nearest human, knocking him out.

More and more employees started flooding the lobby.

"We don't have time for this!" Buffy yelled.

The elevator opened and Buffy turned around expecting more enemies, but a blood stained Angel stepped out instead. He ran forward and started helping the others fight.

"Buffy! Let's go! The others can handle this!" Angel said to her.

It was true, even Giles and Xander were doing pretty well. These demons and humans had obviously not been trained to fight. And with Illyria here, the two human Scoobies wouldn't get hurt.

"Okay!" Buffy then killed another demon before she started backing away, "Faith, Spike, are you staying or coming with us?"

The two looked at each other and said in unison, "We're going."

"What about Blue?" Spike asked.

"I have never wasted my time on the Wolf, Ram, and Hart. I will not begin to now," Illyria said while fighting off enemies.

"Well, alright then."

They headed off for the left side of the building.

"Where are supposed to look for them, Angel?" Buffy asked.

"I dunno. This seems too easy."

"You won't see me complainin' about that," Faith mumbled.

Spike nodded in agreement.

The foursome continued to walk through the hallways of the giant Wolfram & Hart Building.

"Angel," Buffy urged, "we don't have time to waste. Willow said we'd only have so long."

"So, Willow unleashed the fury, huh?" Faith asked, not knowing of Willow's death of course.

Buffy didn't respond, giving Faith and Spike an uneasy feeling. Angel was too preoccupied to care.

"They're not just gonna be around here filing paperwork, or making deals. There's something else going on here." Angel said, mostly to himself.

Buffy was trying her hardest not to rush him.

Angel had stopped in the middle of a hallway. There were no employees around, which was odd, but the small group wasn't complaining.

They were all waiting on him. It was his battle now; the senior partners had been his nemesis for years.

Mindlessly, Spike walked over and opened an office door.

"Uh, Angel…"

The other vampire walked over and looked into the room. He didn't say anything.

"This isn't just a Wolfram & Hart building, is it?" Spike asked.

In confusion, the two women walked over to see what was in the room.

"Whoa…" Faith said.

Buffy was speechless.

There was no desk in this room, no file cabinets, no floor, and no walls, just a giant, seemingly never-ending, portal.

They all just stood there for a moment. This was definitely not expected.

"Do we go through?" Asked Faith, breaking the silence.

"No." Buffy and Angel responded in unison.

"We don't know where that leads," Angel started to state.

"Or how we'd get back," Buffy finished for him.

The two of them were running this show together, and Spike was jealous. Yeah, there was nothing going on between them anymore, but that fact didn't change his feelings. He and Buffy were going to have a lot to work on in their relationship, starting with her lying and impulsive decisions, which he was still very angry about.

"We need to figure out what this place is exactly and where this goes." Angel said.

"Are there more?" Buffy asked.

The group spread out and started opening all the surrounding doors. Some had portals in them, some didn't.

"We need to go back." Angel said.

Buffy sighed. She doubted that Willow's plan would leave the senior partners weakened for very long, and they were pushing it.

Angel headed back for the lobby, and the other three trailed after him.

The Scoobies who were left looked surprised by the others' return. Angel went and grabbed one of the attacking employees, demon, and took him into a nearby hallway. He opened a door hoping it would be an office, but it was a portal. It would do.

"We can do this nicely, or I can torture you and then throw you into that dimension. Your choice."

"I fell like torture is becoming our signature move." Buffy whispered disdainfully to Faith.

Faith nodded in agreement. She didn't really have a problem with it though.

"Please, no! We have no choice but to fight you! We have to." The senior partner-looking employee cried.

"Where are they?" Angel demanded.

"They'll kill me if I tell you!" The employee begged.

"And we'll kill you if you don't." Spike told him.

"Look I don't know how to get to them. Really! But… Well, it has something to do with the elevator. That's all I know! I swear!"

Angel examined him for a moment, and he threw the employee into the portal. Then Angel headed back towards the lobby.

"Am I the only one who's kinda worried about him?" Faith asked.

"No." Buffy said.

"Yes," Spike answered.

Buffy didn't bother to say anything else.

The trio followed Angel and found him standing by the elevator. Behind him, Giles, Xander, and Illyria were successfully fighting off their attackers.

"Are we going in?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah." Angel said, pushing the button.

The elevator opened, and the group stepped in.

"Is there like a special button or something?" Faith asked.

The panel was lined with floor numbers, but nothing out of the ordinary.

"Wait," Buffy said, "what's that?" She was pointing to a very small needle-like object sticking out of the panel of buttons. She moved her finger towards it and paused before touching it. "Ow!"

The elevator started to move then.

"Blood," Angel said. "It needed blood."

"It's always blood," Spike muttered, like it was some kind of conspiracy.

"Where are we going?" Buffy asked.

Faith shrugged. "Up."

It was the longest elevator rides of their lives, and the anticipation was overwhelming. What would be behind the doors when they opened?

Buffy caught herself staring at Spike a few times. How mad was he? Well, he helped her up earlier. That was a good sign, right?

Spike could feel her eyes on him, but he ignored the urge to look back. There once was a time when he would be quick to forgive her, and forget, but that wasn't him anymore. What if she had been killed? And of course he'd forgive her eventually, but she didn't need to know that yet.

The lift finally stopped, and the doors slid open. This was certainly not what they were expecting.

The elevator opened up to a small beige hallway with three simple doors. There was one at the end, and the other two were facing each other.

"Not what I was expecting," Buffy stated.

"How about we see who's behind door number one?" Spike briefly pointed to the door on the left.

Angel walked over to the door and put his hand on the doorknob. "Okay, you ready?" He asked the others.

They all nodded their heads, and Angel pulled open the door. On the other side of the doorway, there was just a small living room with a couch, a bar, and a small table.

Angel stepped inside cautiously, and after a moment the others followed. As soon as they were all in the room, the door shut by itself and then disappeared.

"Umm, how are we supposed to get out of here?" Buffy felt very uneasy about this place.

No one answered her.

On the other end of the room, lying on the carpeted floor was one of the senior partners.

"He's passed out. Willow's…magic thing worked," Buffy said gratefully.

Angel was standing over the partner staring at him. His appearance surprised Angel.

He was an ugly man, or demon, although he looked more like a human, but not completely. Angel assumed that his appearance had probably changed continuously over the years of his life (which was a long one at that). His older forms were probably too dated even for demons and a demon dimension.

Is this what the other senior partners would look like?

The partner looked old; there were some wrinkles, but his hair black and slicked back. He had a wiry moustache that gave him a sleazy look. His ears, hands, and nails were what gave away his demon side. The ears were smaller and more connected to his head. The hands were unnaturally boney and long, and their nails were long and sharp.

"Maybe we should give him a moment." Faith suggested since Angel had only been examining their enemy.

"Uh, I don't know if we have time for that." Buffy argued.

"B…" Faith said pleadingly. Buffy never truly saw firsthand the fight that Angel had been waging in L.A. with the senior partners. This was a big moment for him.

"Alright then. Just a few minutes, though." Buffy was already antsy as it was, and there was no reason to draw this out.

"How'd that go anyway? The Willow thing." Faith asked Buffy.

"Umm…" Buffy started staring at the wall while replaying the battle with Willow in her mind. "She… Well, she's…gone," Buffy finished quietly. Willow's screams were still echoing in her mind.

Spike was standing by the two women, watching Angel just stare at the senior partner, but he was secretly listening to their conversation. When he heard Buffy say that Willow was gone, his head quickly turned to her direction.

"Oh… So you…"

Buffy shifted her gaze back to Faith and noticed that Spike was also staring at her. She suddenly felt guilty even though she had done no wrong. "I didn't kill her," she told them in her defense. "She did it by herself. I think she knew. What she was doing, that is. I think it was her plan the whole time."

Spike wanted to offer her some sort of comfort. Even just touch her, but he had to resist for now. "I think Angel's had long enough."

"Yeah," Buffy said, nodding in agreement.

"So how do you kill a senior partner?" Spike asked Angel. "I'm assuming you know."

Angel just shook his head. "He's immortal."

"So no ripping his head off?" Spike said disappointedly.

"Then what do we do, Angel?" Buffy asked him.

Angel was about to say something when Buffy's scythe lit up in a bright gold light.

"There's your answer, B."

"We never did do any more research about this thing," Buffy said. She walked over to the senior partner and moved to chop off the senior partner's head, but she stopped and handed the scythe to Angel. "You should do this," she told him.

He took the scythe from her cautiously. This was it; his ultimate nemesis that had plagued him for years was finally getting taken down.

Lying on the ground, with a deadly scythe looming over him, the senior partner was starting to regain consciousness.

Angel had already lifted up the godlike weapon, preparing to bring it down and decapitate the partner, but Angel halted his attack when he saw that the senior partner had opened his small, beady, black eyes.

Seconds later, Angel resumed his attack, relishing in the chance that he got to look into the demon's eyes when he killed him. The blade moved closer and closer to the neck it would sever, but the senior partner managed to get in his last words before his end.

"Suvarta."

And then flesh and blade finally made contact. The weapon slid through the senior partner effortlessly. The body then shriveled up while turning black.

"What did he say?" Buffy asked Angel.

"Suvarta," Angel replied grimly. "One of the other two senior partners."

Buffy was silent. She didn't understand what this meant.

"They know we're here now, Buffy."

"But Willow's magic might still be effective. They could still be weakened." She said unconvincingly.

"He was just waking up. The others probably are too."

"Well, why the hell are we still standing here then, Angel? We need to hurry. Let's go." Buffy demanded. There would be no more reflective, emotional moments. This battle had to be finished quickly. She headed for the door, forgetting that it had disappeared. But when she turned around towards it, there is was. She flung it open and waited for the others to enter the hallway.

When they had caught up to her, she turned the handle on the door across from the one they had exited, and she opened the door.

On the outside, Buffy was feigning optimism and confidence, and God knows she could use some because on the inside she knew that this next fight would actually be a fight, and it would be much more difficult. There was no telling what was in store for them now…


	30. A Fighter's Luck

Hey guys! I hope you're still with me. I've had a lot of distractions and therefore, I haven't been writing much. But I finally finished this chapter and I'm super excited to write the next one!

I'm not sure whether the next phase of the story will be one chapter of it I'm going to put in small segments yet, but it'll be awesome either way. This chapter focuses more on physical fighting and the next one is more about emotions, so I think it's something to look forward to.

Thank you for the reviews and putting me/this story on alerts and favs and all that jazz. So... Read and review please :)

30. A Fighter's Luck

Buffy flung the door open violently, striding through the threshold. The other three were right on her heels. Once they had stepped in the room, the door closed and disappeared. Just like before.

Standing before them was the second senior partner. He looked weak, and he was breathing heavily, but there was no telling whether or not he would go down easily. He was leaning on a fancy dining room table that had a crystal chandelier hanging over it. The floor was some sort of stone. Xander might know what it was, Buffy thought absent mindedly. There were several doors in the room, which made her uneasy.

"Well, well, well, it seems as if I have visitors," the partner said in his nasally voice. Whereas the first partner's appearance gave off an air of sleaziness, this demon looked much more sophisticated. His salt and pepper hair was ruffled, but parts were still slicked back. His face was round, with bug eyes, but other than that he had the same demon-like physical characteristics as the first partner. "Pushy visitors."

"Well, we don't plan to take up too much of your time," Buffy said, completely serious.

"Angel," the partner said, ignoring Buffy's words, "how nice to see you again. You haven't aged a bit. Now, I haven't either, but you wouldn't know."

"You're Mr. Suvarta." Angel replied certainly.

Mr. Suvarta continued on, "I must admit, we were not expecting this to happen. Our back-up plan even failed us."

Angel smiled grimly, "Willow."

"Yes, we didn't think she would be so in control of herself to end her own life."

Buffy's heart was racing. She just wanted to attack, but the man kept talking. He was stalling. Unfortunately, Buffy couldn't just walk up to him and chop his head off. She was sure that would just result in a trap of some sort. There was no way the senior partner would let himself be unprotected. She would only follow Angel's lead.

Angel took a step forward; he had also been thinking the same as Buffy.

"It won't be that easy you know," Mr. Suvarta warned Angel.

The vampire scoffed. "Either way this won't even come close to a hard battle for any of us." He didn't care if he sounded arrogant, it was the truth.

The partner smiled, sending chills up Buffy's spine.

The room started to disappear piece by piece. Then the walls faded away, and the Scoobies were in the middle of endless white space with the senior partner standing in front of them. There appeared to be no walls, and no floor, but Buffy knew there had to be something because they were standing on solid ground. At least that's what she thought. There was no time to find out. They were only there for an instant, and then the blankness was replaced by a very familiar place.

It was dark. The walls were brown. They were underground. Or, at least, they appeared to be underground. Was this real, or was this an illusion? Then it hit Buffy. She had been here before. They all had, except Angel. The four Scooby members were standing in the Hellmouth.

Buffy could hear the Turok-Hans quickly making their way up the cliff. Her heart was beating at an impossible rate. This place had given her too many nightmares already, but that was mostly because of what had happened at the end. Buffy wouldn't let herself think about that right now. This time she would get out of this damned cave with Spike alive.

"It's not real." She said to Mr. Suvarta.

He didn't reply to her.

It was real though, even if it was an illusion at the same time. They all knew it. And, unfortunately, Buffy was the only one with a weapon.

"Why were we stupid enough to only count on that stupid thing?" Faith was very angry with herself.

The sound of the approaching vampires grew louder and louder, keeping Buffy's heartbeat at an accelerated rate while filling the other three with dread. How were they to defend themselves?

Out of nowhere, a sword appeared in their hands, as if they were being watched over by someone. Their dread diminished and was replaced with confidence. They had been through so much, and there was no way that the battle would be lost now.

Seconds later the ubervamps were on the same level as the Scoobies and charging.

It was an overwhelming sense of déjà vu.

The four warriors ran forward to meet the vile creatures. Buffy was fighting like a champion, taking out hordes of them out a minute. All she needed to do was get near the senior partner and this could all be over. But there were too many vamps surrounding her and her companions. Just keep on fighting, survive, was what she kept repeating to herself. When she had a second in between decapitations and swings, Buffy looked around to see how Spike, Faith, and Angel were faring. They had all seemed to be alive and intact so far, but this could not go on for much longer. There were only four of them whereas last time there were quite a few slayers to help. Buffy was going to go for it.

Faith was closest to her. "Faith!" Buffy yelled over the fighting. "Cover me!"

Faith slowly made her way over to her sister slayer, and for a few minutes they fought the ubervamps side-by-side, like old times. They had always made a great team.

Buffy started to advance towards the senior partner while defending herself with help from Faith. It was slow going; the amount of enemies was out of control. Had there really been this many last time?

Angel had gotten pushed far away from the senior partner he so desperately wanted to kill, but he had to make his way back towards him. There was one problem though. He didn't have the scythe. Buffy's scythe. The amount of demons surrounding him was so overwhelming that he couldn't even see Buffy in this place. Every now and then Angel would see flashes of white which he soon realized was Spike's hair. He needed to make his way over towards the other souled vampire.

Buffy was getting closer to Suvarta, and she knew it would only be a matter of minutes before she would be able to lift her weapon up and cut off his head. But as she drew closer, the vamps grew more vicious and tough. The two women barely got a moment to recover from any previous attack, but they kept pushing forward until the partner was a few yards away. Only now they were solely focused on blocking each oncoming attack, and Suvarta was momentarily forgotten.

"B! Something needs to happen! Like now!" Faith yelled between each attack she made.

"We just need to get a little closer! And then I can end this!" Buffy replied, sounding more out of breath than ever before.

So she and Faith pressed on, attacking and shielding themselves and each other. And finally, Buffy thought she was close enough, but she found herself scared. Charging forward would risk her life and Faith's. Should she go for it, or get a little bit closer?

But before Buffy could decide, Faith echoed her earlier thought. "You can go for it now, Buffy!"

The blonde slayer nodded, and started to run forward until she was ambushed from atop. The women never realized how close they were to the cliff and the oncoming ubervamps. As the demons neared the top, they jumped over others of their same kind to get to the slayers. Buffy was pushed to the ground, and the scythe was knocked from her hand. She couldn't see what had happened to Faith.

Buffy was now trapped under a huge pile of vamps, and she was barely managing to keep herself alive. She was punching and kicking, but her number of injuries was increasing. And then it got to the point where she was completely helpless. An ubervamp was closing in on her, his crude sword pointing right towards her. Buffy closed her eyes, and waited.

Then something happened. There was a familiar sound, causing Buffy to open her eyes. All she saw was Spike standing in front of her. He had come out of nowhere and saved her by killing the Turok-Han.

He held his hand out to her. Before she took it, Buffy grabbed the sword that she had almost been killed with to defend herself.

"The scythe Buffy, where is it?" He yelled at her while they continued to fight.

"I don't know! Where's Faith?" She didn't care about her weapon right now.

"She's over there." He nodded in a direction. "Don't worry, the bird's alright."

Buffy had endured cut after cut after cut when she lost her weapon, but she couldn't take much more. And Spike could tell. "Stay with me, slayer."

"Go, Spike. End this. Now."

He got a chance to look at her between attacks, and uncertainty was written all over it.

"I'll be okay for now, but I can't fight for much longer. So you need to go!"

And then he ran while only protecting his neck. He felt blades scratch all over his body, but he didn't really feel the pain. Spike was going to save the day, this time getting out of this hole alive.

He guessed where the scythe might've fell, and he was right. Luckily, Buffy had been very close to Suvarta. Spike only had to take a few steps and he would be next to him. Moving forward, Spike swung the scythe and took out vamp after vamp. It was his first time using the godly weapon, and it felt incredible.

Suvarta hadn't notice Spike approaching, and when he did he grew frightened for the first time since this had started.

"Turok-Hans, protect me! Kill him!" Suvarta ordered the primal creatures. And suddenly they were swarming towards Spike

"Oh, bugger this!" He charged forward, full with determination.

Buffy had managed to keep herself going with the help of Faith, who had found her friend shortly after Spike had left. Spike. That's all Buffy could think about. Was he still alive?

It was as if he heard her question. Buffy had brought her sword up, ready to chop something's head off, but when she swung all she cut was thin air. It took them all a minute to realize they were back in the senior partner's room with the dining table. The battle was over. Buffy dropped her weapon, and the sound reverberated throughout the room. She looked at Spike who was standing there with her scythe in his hand.

"You did it." She didn't say it like she was surprised. She knew he would do it and she was so proud of him.

He gave her no answer. But he walked over to her and took her in his arms. "We almost lost each other again, luv," he whispered to her.

This time she gave no answer. There was really nothing to say in this moment.

When they moved apart he looked at her sternly and said, "I'm still angry with you for before."

She just nodded slowly. Then she turned to Angel. "I didn't know that the senior partners could do things like that."

He took his time replying. And there would be no rushing from Buffy with complaints about needing to hurry. They all needed to take a rest after that.

"I don't think that was Suvarta doing that. The partners don't have that kind of power." Angel looked tired. He had only suffered a few wounds here and there. He was in the best shape out of them all.

"So who was it then?"

"I'm not sure. It could be a witch or something. I really don't know."

Buffy didn't answer at first. "I think we should get out of this room."

The others nodded in agreement.

Out in the hallway, Buffy sank to the floor to rest for a moment. Faith joined her.

"We should just get this over with. Now." Angel said to the women.

"Let them rest for a few, Angel," Spike said nicely. "It would help us."

Angel looked hesitant.

"We three need it even if you don't," Spike added.

Angel decided not to argue.

The four of them sat on the ground together, catching their breath, resting their muscles, nursing their wounds, and trying not to think about what might lay ahead of them with the next senior partner.


	31. Fighting Death's Lies Part 1

Hey, everyone! So, before I get into stuff about the chapter let me just say that feedback for my story has been dwindling. There was only one review for the last chapter, so if you want me to continue writing this please let me know. I'm saying this to all of you who don't review because I'm not sure if it's worth continuing at this point. Even a few words would be great, it doesn't have to be a paragraph or anything, although that would be super awesome!

So anyways, this chapter isn't very long because it's really only about Buffy. This chapter will have five parts and the next three will be about Faith, Spike, and Angel, and then the last one will have all of them involved. For a teaser I will say that one of these four's life will end. Any guesses? Well... that is if I continue to write this story.

So read, and please review, seriously... Please?

Enjoy!

31. Fighting Death's Lies Part 1

Buffy's Breakdown

Buffy was resting with her head on Faith's shoulder. She knew Angel was getting more impatient, but she didn't care. Buffy and Spike were pretty beat up, so they needed this.

"Should we be sitting here? I mean, is this making him, or whoever, or whatever, stronger?" Faith asked.

Buffy answered before Angel could say anything, "I really don't think it matters. I'm assuming that whoever's in control of the magic has been in full power all along because that, back there, was…crazy. The senior partner will regain his strength, but he can't hurt us."

"Still…" Angel prompted.

"I know, Angel, but that was just too much for us, I think…"

Faith and Spike nodded in agreement.

"I get that, but I can't just sit here and wait." Angel stood up, "I've been waiting for years, Buffy, and the end is right there through that door. And there's no way to prepare for what may happen, 'cause there's no way to know. We've been sitting here for ten minutes, you're wounds are still going to be there in ten more."

Buffy, Spike, and Faith exchanged looks. Then, reluctantly, Buffy removed her head from her friend's shoulder. The three of them stood up and joined Angel.

"We know how important this is to you, Angel, we really do," Buffy said to him. "So let's go. Let's end this." She handed him her prized scythe.

Angel took the weapon graciously and headed towards the third, and final, door.

It swung open, revealing the remaining senior partner. Angel decided to waste no time and started to walk towards him, knowing that the partner would not be able to fend off Angel physically, but suddenly the room disappeared. It turned from infinite white space to another very familiar place.

It was Sunnydale. And now they had been separated.

Buffy was in shock. In some ways this was worse than being in the Hellmouth cave again. She was standing in the backyard of her old house. The one that she moved to with her mother, the one that she had fought many battles in, physical and emotional, and the one that she had never got to say goodbye to. Angel, Faith, and Spike were nowhere to be seen, making Buffy even more uneasy. What would come out of the shadows this time? She walked around the backyard, staring up at the false moon. Waiting was the worst part.

There was no activity out here, and Buffy could feel the house luring her inside. She gave in and entered it through the backdoor. The home gave her a comfortable feeling, too comfortable actually. She didn't want to leave and face the dangers outdoors.

The house was looked very tidy, like the way it was when her mother was alive. Buffy made her way towards the front of the house, walking through the hallway past the stairs. She looked towards the dining room first, and then turned to see the living room. It greeted her with a surprise.

"Spike!"

He turned around, looking relieved to see her.

"Buffy…"

"Are Angel and Faith here too?"

"I'm not sure; this is the only part of the house I've been in."

"Well, I'll check upstairs and you check the basement."

Spike nodded in agreement and Buffy headed upstairs.

She checked every room, not letting herself linger in them. There was no one up here. As she made her way back to the ground floor she noticed that Spike was still in the living room, but now he was facing the window. It appeared that he hadn't even moved an inch.

"Spike?" Buffy asked warily.

He didn't seem like he had even heard her.

"Spike?" She spoke with more conviction this time.

He turned and faced her.

Something was definitely wrong here, but Buffy had no idea what it was. She walked over to him and brought a hand to his face. She realized this place was having a serious effect on him. For a moment, Buffy thought the same for herself because she felt warm, but seconds later she realized it was only the sun.

The sun. The very same sun which was also shining on Spike.

Buffy went to pull him away, but it was too late. He was already burning. Slowly, Spike turned to ash, and then he was gone. The last thing she saw was the hollow look in his eyes.

Buffy was standing there in shock; her mouth gaping at the spot where Spike was standing only seconds before. Her body was numb and tears were sliding down her face.

This couldn't be real. It just couldn't. Neither one of them was supposed to die this time around.

It was all wrong. Spike doesn't die and the sun isn't the thing that takes him out.

Was he really gone?

She needed to find Angel. He had the scythe and they would go kill the senior partner. Then they would go back and Spike would be there. He had to be there.

She ran. Buffy was racing down her street, passing house after house. There was no one in sight.

"Angel! Angel!" She kept running and was now heading for downtown Sunnydale. Buffy continued to yell at the top of her lungs, "Angel! Faith!" There was no sign that anyone had heard her. "Hello?"

Buffy realized that there was no one here. She collapsed on the ground with sobs shaking her body.

There was not one soul in Sunnydale to comfort her.

* * *

A/N: So, do you think he's really dead? Thoughts?


	32. Fighting Death's Lies Part 2

Hey guys! You're all so wonderful with the many reviews! Please keep it up!

So, here's the second part of this chapter, and you have to wait to find out about Spike. Let me know what you think about Faith here. And...ummm I guess there's not much else to say, except enjoy!

Oh, I hope you don't mind that these chapter parts aren't very long, it's just easier to write them this way and put them up separately. I think it flows better.

**Read and Review pretty please!**

32. Fighting Death's Lies Part 2

Faith's Frailty

Faith found herself standing in a very familiar room. It had been years since she had been here. The mayor's office brought back a lot of memories, memories that she wasn't proud of. She had been fighting against Buffy who was now her best friend. They could've always been friends, but Faith wouldn't let it happen.

Speaking of Buffy, where was everyone?

Faith headed for the door after realizing that this office gave her the creeps. Out in the hallway she called for Buffy. "B? Are you here?" There was no answer. "Buffy?" Only silence greeted her. "Angel?" Still no reply. "Spike?"

This didn't seem good.

This place was making Faith feel like a teenager again, and because of that she really needed to get out of here. She made her way to the exit while noticing that there seemed to be no one here. She finally saw the door, but before she got there, Faith realized that someone was standing nearby. He was a tall, black man, and his back was turned to her. Her heart must have stopped for a minute at least.

This was impossible. There was no way he could actually be here. He was hundreds, thousands, of miles away safely in England. Faith panicked for a short moment, and then tried to calm herself down. As long as he doesn't turn around then the possibility exists that it might not be him.

He then turned around as if he had heard her thoughts.

"Faith!" He looked relieved to see her.

"Robin…" Faith said unsurely. She knew something was very off here. Was he real? "What are you doing here?"

"They took us, the senior partners. The sent more slayers to the mansion."

Faith didn't believe him. He seemed perfectly healthy right now. Last time she saw him, which was only hours ago, he was seriously wounded from the first battle with the slayers.

He seemed to sense her disbelief. "Look, I know this is weird, and I honestly can't explain how I'm here. To be fair though, I can't really explain anything when it comes to the supernatural world, ya know. Anything's possible. You look pretty beat up, Faith."

"Yeah," she replied staying on her guard. She turned around and checked out her surroundings again. "So," she started to say, but when Faith shifted her focus back to Robin, he was lying on the ground writhing in pain. "Robin?" Faith moved closer to him, but she kept some distance between them.

"Faith?"

The unexpected voice startled her. Faith turned around to see a welcoming sight.

"Buffy!"

The blonde slayer came forward, but stopped when she saw Robin.

"Yeah, I dunno what he's doing here," Faith told to Buffy.

"What did you do to him, Faith?"

Faith blanched. "What do you mean 'What did I do to him'? I didn't do anything, B."

Buffy walked over to Robin, and checked to see what was wrong with him.

"B, I don't think you should…"

By now Robin had stopped moving.

Buffy stood up slowly, and faced the other slayer. She had a very concerned look on her face. "Faith, how could you do this?"

"What are you talking about Buffy? I didn't do anything!" Buffy's baseless accusations were really pissing Faith off.

Suddenly, Giles walked into the building. "Faith, we thought you learned your lesson. We thought you had changed, but now I see we were mistaken."

"Giles, no. I… I didn't do this!" Faith couldn't understand what was happening here. Were they saying she hurt Robin, or was he dead? Why were they doing this to her? She didn't hurt anyone. She's changed. Buffy knows this; why wasn't she defending her.

"Faith," Buffy began, "we know it was you. Just stop lying."

Faith didn't know what to say. And then suddenly she felt warm tears glide down her face. "I-I … But… What…" Faith didn't know why she was suddenly feeling so upset when none of this was actually happening. She really didn't do anything to Robin, but she felt like she had. What was real here? She couldn't tell. "No! No! I didn't… I swear I..."

Faith collapsed to the ground when Buffy walked over to her.

"We have to take you away now Faith. You of all people should know what they do to slayers who can't behave."

"B, no. Please… That's not me anymore! I'm with you! I'm on your side!"

Buffy knelt down and smiled grimly, "No, Faith, you aren't."

Faith barely felt the two men picking her off the ground. She realized that it was Spike and Angel. By then, Giles, Xander, Dawn, and Willow, the real Willow, were standing around her with disappointed looks on their faces. She felt numb. They had kicked her out, banished her from the family that she secretly loved and had always wanted to be a part of, but wouldn't because of her own insecurities. This was her biggest fear.

The world she had worked so hard at to put back together was falling apart so easily. It was an unfortunate sense of deja vu.

The two vampires led her out to a van, handcuffed her with the chains connected to the floor, and locked her inside.

Faith was all alone now.


	33. Fighting Death's Lies Part 3

Hey everyone! Sorry it's taken so long for me to post this, but I had to pack to go back to school, and then I was unpacking and getting ready for classes, so I've been pretty busy for a while. Anyway, this chapter isn't very long (like I said it would be in the previous author's note), and then next two won't be either because they are all a part of one chapter. Ummm, this chapter's probably predictable, but there was no way for it not to be. Hopefully the next two aren't for you though.

Also, I've had a lot(!) of people add this story to the alerts and favs, but you guys didn't review. Even if you only say a few words it would mean so much to me! It really would. Soooooo, **Please review! I don't care if it's only one word :)**

Enjoy!

33. Fighting Death's Lies Part 3

Spike's Sorrow

"What the-"

One minute he was standing in front of the remaining senior partner and now Spike was back in Sunnydale; more specifically, the graveyard near his old crypt. Were creatures going to come out and attack him here too? He could probably take a couple of vamps by himself in his current battered state, but no more than that.

Where was Buffy? She had to be around here somewhere.

Spike started to explore the familiar graveyard, but there was no sign that neither she, nor Angel and Faith, had been here.

"Buffy! Slayer! Where are you, pet?"

There was no response, and Spike didn't hear any movement nearby.

"Shit…" The other three could be anywhere in the city, and if they were attacked… Well, there was no telling how they'd fare after that last battle.

He wanted to go search downtown and Buffy's house, but Spike felt his crypt luring him towards it. He didn't know why, but he headed straight for it. Maybe Buffy was there… Yeah, that had to be it.

When he got to the door, Spike paused. This was the first time he had been back here since winning his soul. He was in a very different place in his (un)life now; a happier place. He had Buffy.

He didn't think about that for long before he opened the door, and right before his eyes was the woman who he considered his salvation.

"Spike!" Buffy looked up at him and smiled brightly. "I was looking everywhere for you," she said and then shrugged. "I figured you'd show up here sooner or later."

"Funny, I thought the same about you, slayer."

She smiled, "Should we go find Angel and Faith?"

Spike nodded and made way for the door. After a few minutes of walking through the graveyard, Spike spoke. "So, pet, where do we head first?"

"Well, you were near your crypt, I was in my house, or, well, the backyard… Significant places? If that's it then Angel could be in his old apartment, if you can even call it that, or that old mansion-"

"What's so special about his dingy, old apartment?" Spike interrupted coolly.

"Uh, well, you know, it's just the place where he lost his soul…" Before Spike could say anything, Buffy continued on," And Faith, well, Faith could be in her old apartment or city hall in the mayor's office, or maybe that alleyway…"

Spike only looked at her in amusement, trying not to smile, "Well, Faith's a bit closer. Let's find her first, yeah?"

Buffy nodded in response, but then she suddenly stopped.

"What…" But then he knew.

Vampires- and close, if his senses weren't too off, which they never were.

"We can take a few vamps first, though. Right, slayer?"

"Well, I can, but can you, Mr. Champion? Or should I call you Mr. Blondie Bear?" Buffy teased.

That almost made him forget that he was still angry with her, so Spike controlled himself and only smirked in response. Of course he had missed the slayer's jesting, but ever since Willow had shown up things had been tense.

The two champions attacked the approaching vampires, but more just kept popping up. No matter what, though, Spike kept fighting. He dusted vamp after vamp, and this fight wasn't getting close to wearing them down. These vamps fought like they were only a day old. All the while he was constantly aware of Buffy, he could feel her there, but then suddenly, she disappeared.

"Buffy! Where are you?" Spike tried to keep the panic out of his voice.

There was no sign of her. He kept focus and continued to fight, but his mind was racing. It wasn't just like she had moved away, it was almost as if she was… gone. Really gone. He had no way of actually knowing, but Spike just had a feeling.

Then he heard a female's voice, but it wasn't Buffy.

"Spike! Where's B?" It was Faith, of course, and she joined the fight.

"I dunno! You didn't see her?" Spike shouted as he was fending off a bunch of vamps.

"No. Look, I got this. Go find her." Seeing Spike's uncertain expression she continued, "I'm touched by your concern, but don't worry 'bout me, seriously, I'm five-by-five. Besides, Angel'll be here soon… most likely. So go."

Spike took off running, following Buffy's scent, but he stopped when he saw Angel drawing near.

"Spike, Buffy went that way chasing some giant demon. I dunno what it is; I've never seen anything like it before. But she told me to go help you. I think those vamps were a diversion."

Spike nodded, taking the information in, "I gotta go, mate. Faith's over there, but she's all right." And then he took off running again. It was odd, but Spike felt like something very bad was going to happen, or maybe it already had. Either way he knew that it involved Buffy. Now her scent was getting stronger- she had to be around here somewhere. Would she really just leave him there to fight off all those vamps by himself?

By now, Spike was near the outskirts of the cemetery, and there was still no sign of Buffy even though her scent was almost unbearably strong, but then he realized that it wasn't just her scent exactly. It was her blood. How had he not realized this? A vampire always recognizes blood. Whatever. That wasn't important at the moment, but Buffy was. Was she hurt badly? Spike started to walk along the edge if the field following her scent that was now diminishing to a normal level, although there was still some blood here and there.

"Spike…" Buffy called. Her voice was faint.

He ran over to her instinctively, acting completely on emotion.

"Buffy… Buffy, luv, stay with me. Stay with me…" He looked over her wounds, which were extensive. Deep down he knew. He knew that these injuries were too big for even Buffy to survive. But after he thought about that he immediately cast it aside because she was the slayer. She would live. She had to live. Not just for him, but for Dawn, and Giles, and all the others, and, of course, the rest of the world. Where would the world be without her?

"I… can't… Spike… I love… you."

"Buffy, Buffy no… No!" Spike shook her, urging her to wake up and come back to him, but it was useless. Buffy was gone. He sat there cradling her body while he sat trembling from his sobs.

His slayer, his Buffy, was gone.


	34. Fighting Death's Lies Part 4

I don't usually specifically reply to reviews, but a reviewer has told me twice now that my parts to this chapter have been too short. **Disclaimer to what I'm going to say: I'm not saying this in a bitchy way- honestly I'm not. I'm not attacking you by any means.** So with that in mind, I've explained twice why these chapters are short. They are meant to be and they're only part of what these characters are experiencing in this created world of the senior partners, Angel will go through more in this chapter than any of the other characters. Also, I just found it easier to post the events of this chapter by having only one main character in them, and personally, I just liked this way better because otherwise there would be too many cuts from character to character (and not in a good, exciting way- I just couldn't find a good flow for it that satisfied me). Oh, and also I just like cliffhangers when I'm on the writing end :) I'm almost done with this temporary format, so I'm not going to change it for the next two parts. That's that, okay? I'm not telling you that you're opinion is wrong or stupid or anything, but this is just how I chose to write it, and as far as I can tell from the other reviews (**if you don't review I don't know what you're feeling about the story *hint hint***) most people are okay with these chapters.

And for my delays/erratic writing and posting ways, I'm sorry. But this year has been rough for me and therefore I haven't been well with the updating. So again, I'm sorry, but I put my life before my story, I always will. That doesn't mean that I'm not dedicated to it.** BUT, I will never just randomly stop writing and leave people hanging (unless I die or somehow experience amnesia or something serious and crazy like that), and you have my guarantee on that.** I've read great stories that have never been finished, and they probably never will be, which sucks. So as long as people keep reading and giving feedback, even if it's not always positive, I will keep writing.

I realize that this was probably unnecessary to do, but whatever, I thought I should explain and defend myself and the story :)

Now to a more relevant topic: this chapter part. Obviously, Angel is the only character left without a POV in this chapter, so you know who will be featured now! And in the next chapter everyone will be back in the story.

Enjoy! **And then review! Do not forget to review ;)**

34. Fighting Death's Lies

Angel's Ambivalence

"Great…" Angel muttered.

He was standing in the middle of the lobby in the old hotel by himself. The Hyperion was where it all began. Would the others be here too then? This was more his place than theirs. Was this whole thing ultimately about him?

He started to walk forward, "Hello? Is anyone here?" From his vamp senses he could tell that there wasn't, but it couldn't hurt to ask.

Of course, there was no answer. He only just realized that he had the scythe with him; he could probably handle an attack, but would the others?

Angel continued to explore the hotel, which appeared to be abandoned. It was bringing back a lot of memories, happy ones, and sad ones. Over the past few years he hadn't really spent too much time thinking about everyone who he used to be here with, but it was impossible not to think about them now when he was back in their old home.

The hotel was completely bare; there were no objects in it anywhere. For some reason that he couldn't put his finger on, Angel decided that this perturbed him more than anything else. It was just... Unnatural.

By now he had walked through most of the hallways and looked in the rooms, finding the same thing over and over again: emptiness. Instead of finishing the search, Angel headed back for the main entrance.

But when he had barely entered, he halted. Someone was standing in the room, facing away from him. They, or, more accurately, she, looked familiar. Then it dawned on him.

"No…" Angel whispered. It couldn't be… Or could it? This wasn't a real world; the only real thing in this scenario was him. "Cordelia?"

She turned around. "Hey there, big guy," she said smiling.

"Cordy?" Angel asked, still uncertain what she was.

"Umm, yeah, what's up with you? God, I haven't seen you in a while and this is the greeting I get? Ugh…"

"You're not Cordelia."

"Well of course I am- Who else would I be? I mean, I'm not possessed again!"

"This isn't real." He was adamant about it. There was not a doubt in his mind.

"What's wrong with you, Angel? I thought we were past all this weirdness-"

"Weirdness?"

Cordelia continued on, not answering his question, "and I mean, last night-"

"Last night?"

"I thought last night was great. Yes, the interruption about the demon put a damper on things, but Gunn apologized like a bazillion times."

"Gunn?"

"So I thought that tonight we could make sure things went differently. What are you doing here anyway? You just can't get away from this place, can you?"

"Why is it empty?" Angel asked, completely confused.

"Uh, the renovations, silly. Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, of course, I'm fine."

"I'm worried about you," Cordelia said, smiling affectionately.

What was happening here? Were he and Cordy together in this… other dimension? Is that even what this place was? Was his team still alive here? Angel had more questions than he could count.

"Earth to Angel!"

"Oh, what? Sorry."

She sighed, "Look, hun, the others and I think that you should take a break. I know this is hard for you, but you're wearing yourself out."

"Wait, what should I take a break from, again?"

She suddenly seemed apprehensive, "Let's not talk about that. Not now, not today. We need to move on from that. More importantly, you need to move on."

"Can we just be honest here, Cordy? What are you talking about?" Angel said with an edge to his voice.

"Watch your tone with me, Angel." After a moment Cordelia went on, "I know the prophecy was a huge part of your life and I understand why, but it's over Angel. You're in major denial. We all know it and we've been trying to be supportive, and I love you, Angel, but you need a cold, hard slap with reality."

"The proph… The Shanshu? It's over?" But he was still a vampire… Then it hit him… "This isn't real. This isn't real," he murmured. How could he forget that?

"God, Angel. How many times are we gonna go over this?" It was clear that they had talked about this many, many times, and now the subject exasperated her.

"Just explain to me again, slowly…please? Please, Cordy." He gave her his most sincere, pleading look.

She paused for a moment and then she exploded. "How many freakin' times are we gonna do this, Angel? You know everything about what happened concerning the prophecy! You were there when we found out that it was a lie! How much more is there to know about it? I don't care if you're a vampire, Angel. I really don't. And since you're going to live forever, you need to get a move on with your life, otherwise for the entirety of your existence all you will do is research this stupid prophecy and you will achieve nothing!" She took a deep breath.

Angel was speechless. The prophecy… It was a fake? How could that be? He would never be a human again… He felt like he needed to sit down. "How is that possible, Cordy?"

She groaned. "Angel," she said softly, "I love you. Can we please just go home and get away from the Shanshu for five minutes?"

There was so much to take in. There was him and Cordy together, as a couple, who were also living in the same place presumably. And there was the Shanshu, which partially inspired his entire life as an upholder of good, fighting against evil. And everyone from the team was alive...

"When did… How was it a…"

Cordelia rolled her eyes. Obviously he wasn't going to let this go, again. Then her savior walked in. "Thank the gods for you, Wesley. It's happening again."

Angel was shocked to see his friend again. No, he was more than just a friend, and it had been a long time. "Wes, you're… You're alive!" Angel hugged him fiercely.

"Uh, are you alright Angel? What's this about?"

"The Shanshu? It's not real?"

Wesley sighed, "We should get out of here, Angel. This place is never good for any of us to be in."

"No. I need to hear this. Just tell me why."

The two could tell that he wouldn't budge, so they gave in.

Was it common for him to forget about what happened? Had he lost his mind?

Cordy started. "The Shanshu prophecy was made up to ensure that you would not only fight against evil, but also to make sure you stayed as Angel, and…" She trailed off.

"And what?"

Wesley answered for her, "And to ensure that you would take every precaution to keep Angelus away from, well, the world."

Angel's face was a mixture of understanding and confusion. Didn't anyone else understand that he hated Angelus just as anyone else? That he would've tried to keep Angelus away even without a prophecy?

"Angelus is terrifying, Angel." Cordy said, although she wasn't sure of her point.

"Yeah, well what about Spike or Dru or Darla? They didn't string them along with a prophecy. Why me?"

"Spike had a little more morality than Angelus, although he didn't completely understand the difference between right and wrong. And well, none of them were cursed with a soul. They wouldn't jump at the chance to redeem themselves because of that. Of course, Spike hadn't met Buffy then, which was his motivation to achieve ensoulment."

Cordelia picked it up from there, "Angel, after you turned into Angelus when you and Buffy did the deed, and you- well, he- decided to destroy the world, the prophecy was created. There was no telling what else he might do. Angelus is truly evil."

He needed to sit down. How was this happening? How could they feed him all that hope for years?

Cordy put a hand on his shoulder, "I know it's a lot to take in, but you have to get used to it. We've all researched it beyond belief. It doesn't exist, Angel."

At that moment he was grateful and happy to see these two again, but on the flip side, he was so angry with them right now even though it wasn't their fault. They had been deceived just as he had.

Yes there was always more to life than just the Shanshu, but it was his ultimate dream and now it was destroyed. stolen. And he was so close to achieving it. Somehow he just knew he was.

But it was only a falsity all along.

* * *

A/N: So I hope that you find what happened to Angel interesting. For the this entire chapter, I went with the characters facing their worst fears at the hands of the senior partners. I wasn't really sure about Angel's, and I like to think that your own personal view of Angel can determine the accuracy of the senior partner's guess. So you can look at it as yes, they were right about it, or no, they were wrong, but either way his reaction to that will be the same (I think, anyway). But I leave that up to you ;)

P.S. I hope that^^ made sense...

**Also, I'd like to know your thoughts on the Shanshu itself, and it related to Angel/Spike.** I'm not gonna tell you my thoughts because that might give away parts of the story ;) (If I do what I think I might do. I don't know, I've recently come up with a lot of ideas for the next few chapters...ugh, stupid, imaginative minds ruin everything...)

**So definitely review and share your thoughts with me, pretty please? It would be most helpful, so I expect many reviews :) (But seriously, I do.)**

It might be a while before I put up another chapter because I just started classes and I already have homework :( So please be patient with me for a while.


	35. Fighting Death's Lies Part 5

Hi everyone! I know it's been a while, but I've been super busy and I write when I can, so this chapter was put together bit by bit since my last update. I really do write frequently, I'm just not able to write enough at one time.

So, here's the last part to this chapter. Angel has more here than anyone else. I hope you don't mind that, but he kind of took over this part of the story. Anyway, you probably just wanna get to the story so I'll stop typing now :)

**Read and Review please? It would mean so much to me, and if I get a great response then I will try my hardest to get the next chapter out faster!**

35. Fighting Death's Lies Part 5

Relieving Reality

Breakdown

It was a few hours later, and Buffy still had no sign of life in the city. By now her tears had subsided, but only because she had none left. Her eyes were swollen and red, not to mention the hollow, and almost scared, look in her eyes.

How was Sunnydale deserted? There wasn't an apocalypse. Buffy was having a hard time remembering what had happened earlier, well, everything except… Spike. Was there a big bad on the loose? What would the gang think when they found out about him?

She continued to walk mindlessly around Sunnydale with no idea where she was going or what she was going to do. Everything had changed so quickly.

Had she ever felt this lonely before? Yes, she had always felt isolated even when surrounded by people, but this time she truly was alone.

Soon Buffy found herself back at her house and she entered reluctantly. Looking over towards the living room, she could barely make out the dust that covered a wide portion of the floor, but she walked away from it and went upstairs. In her old room she spotted Mr. Gordo. It had been a long time since she'd held him and he provided an odd sort of comfort that she needed right now. Without even realizing it, Buffy drifted off into sleep.

Frailty

She was sitting in the back of the van, the same van that she was carried off in years ago, but that barely registered to Faith. Nothing really did at the moment. There was something more important happening.

She felt numb. Everything was all wrong. Robin was dead. Dead as in not coming back. Only people like Buffy and Spike came back from the dead, not normal humans. But he wasn't exactly normal. The son of a slayer, a good demon fighter, and he participated in a couple battles. It just wasn't fair.

And Buffy… Why would she do that? They were friends, sisters, and above all, slayers.

Were they going to kill her? Or maybe torture… Buffy was right, torture was becoming far too common with them. Wait, did Buffy actually say that? Faith couldn't remember.

For a second she thought about escaping, but that thought was quickly pushed out of her head. Would it be worth it? They'd find her eventually. There's no way the council would let her get away again. This was it for old Faithy. No one ever really had high expectations for her, and here she was proving them all right.

She sat back, resting on the van's walls, and stared at the floor. Faith let her thoughts fade away and accepted what was to come.

Sorrow

He was still sitting there holding her body. He couldn't let go. She was too good to die like this. Was this really how things were going to end? The longer he sat there holding her, the more he would fall to pieces on the inside. And eventually outside, when the sun would come up.

The old Spike, the one without the soul, would probably wait here until the sun came up. Or would he? He had survived her death once before, but that was because of the promise. Dawn was all grown up now, and she could take care of herself. She has been for a few years now. But this was a different Spike, one who could live without Buffy. There was no way she would want him to stop living because of her death. She never wanted anyone to do that.

He was trying to look towards the future and think happily of her, but it didn't last long. Dark thoughts crept back into his head, and Spike couldn't push them away. She was dead, but she wouldn't come back this time. Where do vampires go when they die anyway? Spike had never actually died before. He was sucked into that bloody amulet. Maybe he could go to heaven… And they could be together again…

Ambivalence

Angel was sitting in the middle of him and Cordy's apartment. She had so obviously controlled the décor, but he never minded it. He barely even remembered moving in together, but it must've been a happy time.

It was a stark contrast to the aura now. Angel felt numb. His ultimate goal turned out to be a made up story. How was it possible that Cordelia was still here after all this time, dealing with him in this state? She was always reminding him how amazing she was.

His thoughts kept turning to the future. What was he to do with the rest of his eternal existence? Well, it was obvious wasn't it? He would continue to kill demons and protect the helpless. Honestly, what else could he do?

"Hey," Cordy said as she entered the living room.

"Hey," Angel replied softly.

"Look, I know you probably just wanna sit here and wallow, but you need to move on, or start to at least."

"And how do you suggest I do that, Cordy?" Angel asked. It was an honest question.

"Well…" She began, but she drew a blank. She had kept her face optimistic, but it crumbled soon. "I really don't know. Maybe you should go kill something, save someone."

"Yeah, I thought about that. I will later," he shrugged, "it's still early."

"These feelings will pass, Angel, they always do. You just have to work to get past them permanently instead of falling backwards again."

"I just can't believe it…"

She sighed, "We couldn't either."

"How long after it happened did you quit researching it?"

"For months and months and months, Angel. We didn't stop until we were absolutely sure. We didn't give up, I promise. We just…" She sighed, "I dunno, we just found the same truth at the end of every road we went down."

He believed every single word, but he was still angry. Angel wanted to believe that they had given up, that it was their fault, but he couldn't. He barely noticed that Cordelia had been talking for a few minutes now.

"Sorry, Cordy, what?"

She laughed softly, seemingly out of worry, "I was just saying that even though Gunn hasn't been around very much, he does support you."

"Where has he been?"

She took an apprehensive breath, "He's just been staying elsewhere for a while." She knew that that answer wasn't enough for Angel, so she went on, "Honestly, we don't really know where he's been staying. We think that he probably just sleeps from place to place…"

"What does he do if he's not with us?"

"Well, he fights, Angel. Demons and all that, you know…"

"Why?"

She didn't answer at first, and Angel just stared at her. He was anxious about the reason. "Because… you don't."

"I don't?"

"No…" She said softly. "You gave up, and so someone had to keep some peace here, and Gunn stepped up. We help sometimes too. Well, not me so much because I take care of… other things."

He gave up? Just like that? Angel had let his team, actually, more like his family, down.

There was only one thing to do. "Well, I'm done giving up." He said determinedly.

Cordelia's eyes shot up towards him. "But, Angel… Why?"

He was caught off guard. "Why?" He repeated in confusion. "Cordy, it doesn't matter if the Shanshu doesn't exist. People still need help. Who else will do it?"

"Gunn can handle it pretty well."

Angel could tell there was more to it, but he wasn't sure if she would tell the truth or not. He glanced at her expectantly.

She gave in, "You can't just do this to us, Angel!"

"Do what to you? The right thing?" They were yelling now, but Angel had no idea why. He expected Cordy to be the first one to show support.

"You can't just forget about us and then decide that we and the rest of the world matter. Where were you, and I mean this you, before when we were struggling without you?"

"I don't know Cordy, but that wasn't me-"

"Then who was it? You have no idea what you've put us through, Angel."

"It wasn't me... I would never do that," he whispered. Then it hit him. This wasn't real because that wasn't him that she was talking about. He was better than that. "You're not Cordelia, are you?"

"What are you talking about? Of course I am, Angel. Have you lost your mind again?"

"No, I haven't," he stated calmly. "Actually, I just got it back." He was forming an idea in his head, but he just needed to find something. "I'm gonna go out, stake some vamps, help the helpless and all that. Where's that scythe?"

"I think you should stay here. It's better this way, otherwise you'll be reckless. You have nothing to lose, Angel."

"Cordy would never say that to me."

"Well things have changed, and I have to be the one to tell you truth."

"Where's the scythe, Cordy?" He said more forcefully.

"Angel, listen to me-"

He left the living room to search for the weapon. He could hear her calling for him, but he kept moving. And then he spotted it leaning against the wall in their bedroom.

"Angel don't." She said threateningly.

"What are you gonna do about, Fake Cordy?"

"Stop saying that! Jesus, it's me, Angel."

He picked Buffy's weapon up, and turned towards Cordelia.

She started to back away looking terrified. "What are you doing, Angel?"

Could he really do this? Kill Cordelia? "It's not her," he whispered to himself. But what if it was? He barely knew what was real anymore, but somewhere in something she said he heard a lie, and then it snowballed.

He was backing her against the wall now, and she only grew more scared. By now she was crying and begging him. "Please, Angel, don't do this! I know you're sad, but this isn't the way! I love you, Angel…" She said desperately.

"No you don't," He replied darkly, and then he took off her head.

Life

The transportation jolted Buffy awake. She was lying on the ground back in the last senior partner's room. The other three were also here, but they were seemed to be unconscious.

There was much to think and talk about, but something distracted her. Her body was sore and tired, but she pushed herself up anyway and crawled over to the vampire. She wasn't sure at first, but now she was. He was breathing. She felt for a heartbeat and wasn't surprised when she found it.

He was alive, truly alive.

* * *

**So, please leave a review. It's super easy! And I really, really wanna know what you think!**


	36. The Chance of a Lifetime

Hello everyone! I know it's been a while, but I've been quite busy with school and then I got a job, so I don't have a lot of time to write, but I finally managed to finish this chapter. I thank you guys for being patient with me.

Anyway, this chapter is really just focused on one person, and although it's not incredibly long I think it's a good chapter. But in the upcoming chapters I hope to resolve the fate of one character, bring back an old character that I think is pretty well disliked (but I think it makes sense that they would make an appearance), and get these people out of this freaking dimension!

**So read on, and please, please, please review! **

The Chance of a (Life)time

He felt a little groggy. He also had no idea where he was. The only thing he knew was that the floor in this place was cold and hard.

"Ugh…" He groaned. He opened his eyes, but could barely make out anything due to his blurry vision. He sat up after his vision normalized and analyzed the room.

The room was circular, old- almost Greek looking, and empty of people. Also, there were no doors.

Where were the others? Where was she? What the hell happened? He stood up, remaining completely confused.

"Hello?" He asked, sounding more worn out that than he realized.

There was no answer for a moment, but then someone broke the silence.

"Well, you made it!"

It came from behind him, but he didn't need to turn around to know who it was. That voice was unmistakable, at least to him. But this voice also confused him.

"I thought you were-"

"Dead?" She interrupted.

"Yeah," he replied, turning around and facing her.

"I guess it depends on how you look at it," she said in an amused voice, but there was also some unhappiness behind it. "But if you're talking about what happened only moments ago, for you at least, then no. I'm not dead. That was just an elaborate hallucination put together by the senior partners."

He didn't reply.

"You know, it seemed very easy for you- killing me, that is," she said mockingly.

"I realized that it wasn't you, that none of that was real."

"I know. I would never say anything like that to you."

"I know." He took a step towards her, but unexpectedly, she took a step backwards.

"I'm sorry," she said sincerely. "I can't… It's a… thing."

He knew that would be his only explanation he'd get.

"Angel," she said hesitantly, "You do understand what's happening right now, don't you?"

Honestly, he hadn't really thought about it. But, it couldn't be happening… Could it? No. It had been in the making for so long that he'd never truly believe it until it was over.

"I know what you're thinking, I mean, it's written all over your face. But it's real, Angel, it's real."

"Cordy… I just… What are you now? One of the powers?"

"I'm, well… I'm just a higher power. Let's leave it at that for now, alright?"

He thought about that, but moved on briefly, "Is this real? I don't think I can tell anymore."

"It is real, but I could be lying," she joked.

"Well, I'll put my faith in you." He looked around the room and then at her, "So, this is it? I'm finally…" He trailed off for a moment, "I'm finally becoming a human?"

"And therefore, fulfilling the Shanshu, yes." She answered.

"I wish I could touch you, hug you."

"Angel," she said softly, "so do I. But," she spoke more loudly, "we shouldn't waste time. This isn't just a birthday party at Chuckie's that you can do over again next year. This is a once in a lifetime thing, honey."

He smiled, but before he could say anything someone cleared their throat and it wasn't him or Cordelia.

"I, uh, don't mean to interrupt, but I figured that it was time."

Cordy smiled brightly at her, "It's okay Tara, perfect timing actually."

Tara… It took Angel a second to place the name, but he remembered her being talked about in association with Willow. So this was Tara…

"It's nice to finally meet you. I've heard a lot about you over the years." She seemed shy, but incredibly nice.

He sighed and then said dryly, "I can imagine that it hasn't all been good."

She tucked her hair behind her ear, "No, but I understand why." Tara had never really been the one to see things in black and white.

"Well, thanks, I guess…" Angel wasn't really sure what to say now. "I'm sorry about Willow."

Tara flinched at her name, but she quickly composed herself. "Thank you. She'll be all right… eventually."

Angel didn't understand that, but he decided not to prod. "So, how does this work anyway?"

"Well," Tara answered hesitantly, "first of all I just want to make sure that you're sure about this."

He wasn't expecting anyone to ask that. And though it might seem like an easy answer, it wasn't. Now that he thought about it, had anyone ever asked him that point blank?

"In a word, yes, I'm sure."

She examined him closely, "No more super strength, heightened hearing, smelling? No more saving people? With you human you leave Buffy and Spike, Faith, and some other slayers to be the super heroes." She wasn't trying to deter him from this. She was just trying to help him understand what he was giving up, and to prepare him because no matter how much he wanted it, the transition wouldn't be easy.

"I'll still help, maybe not like before, but I know that they can handle anything that comes their way."

"What if you're like the new Xander of the group?" Cordy blurted out.

Tara gave her a pointed look, to which Cordy mouthed back, "What?"

"Anyway," Tara cut in before Angel could reply, "If you're sure, and I think you are, then we should start."

He nodded his head, completely forgetting about Cordelia's comment. This didn't seem real to him.

"Are you ready?" Tara asked.

After a moment he replied certainly, "Yes."

Back in the Senior Partner's dimension…

Buffy was just sitting there thinking and waiting for the others to return from unconsciousness.

Angel's dream had finally come true. She was happy for him, she really was. She loved Spike as the badass vampire that he was. Mortality just didn't seem like it would suit him. Could she see Spike holding a job, or going to school? No, not unless any of that had to do with killing demons. Their relationship wouldn't be the same if he was human. But, he was deserving of the prophecy, and that's what bothered her. Maybe he's not as deserving as Angel, but deserving none the less. How would this affect him? Would he be jealous? Insecure? She had no idea. Would he expect her to get back together with Angel, or had he finally gotten over that? The latter was the worst possible outcome of Angel receiving the reward of the prophecy because she and Angel were done with their romantic relationship.

She continued to sit there alone with her thoughts until someone returns to join her in consciousness.

Angel was standing in the middle of the circular room. If he had a beating heart it would be going a mile a minute right about now. It was actually happening.

"Okay boss, this is it. If you feel weird or tingly, I think that's normal." Cordelia assured him.

"You think?" He asked.

"Well, how would I know?" She retorted.

"This can't go wrong. And I mean like, it really can't. It's impossible," Tara declared cheerfully.

"Okay, so…" Cordelia started to say.

"Yeah." Tara replied.

Although Angel didn't understand that, they certainly did because the two women went and each took a place by Angel, and they turned to face each other.

"Are you nervous?" Cordelia asked him.

"Uh, yeah, a little." He responded.

"Don't worry, Angel," Tara comforted him. "This'll probably be kinda anti-climactic. I mean, not that this isn't a big deal because it really is, but-"

"It's okay, Tara." Cordelia said, cutting her off. "And she's right. Sorry if you were hoping for a parade."

"I always was one for theatrics," he uttered dryly.

Tara took a few deep breaths and then started in an uncommon booming voice, "Powers, hear us- your loyal servants. We have brought you Angel, Angelus, Liam, the prophesized, so that he can achieve his destiny. He has fulfilled the Shanshu prophecy. He has saved many and more, and he will most likely continue even in a human state. He is deserving of this reward, this redemption, as you have determined. Now is the time, for he has been waiting and dreaming a long time for this moment."

They obviously heard her because after she finished a light shined down on Angel, and then Angel himself started to glow.

If there was anything brighter than him or the light, it was Cordelia's smile. She was beaming.

Angel could feel it happening. It felt magical. His body was slowly waking up, and after years and years of being dead, it felt very odd. Now the light was slowly fading. The transformation was almost over. And then Angel felt something else, but he didn't get much time to think about it.

"A-Angel," Tara said, and to Angel, she sounded almost sad. "Could you give them a message from me? Tell them that I'm always with them, and I'm proud of them for how strong they always are, and t-that I'm sorry… That I'm sorry for everything they've had to go through. Tell them that they were the best family someone could ask for."

He smiled and nodded. He hadn't yet fully understood that he was leaving this place.

"Angel," Cordelia said, "I'm so proud of you."

"Cordy, no, I don't wanna go back yet, there hasn't been enough time here."

"But you have to," she said sweetly. "I'm always watching over you…"

"Cordy-" He could feel himself fading back to the previous dimension.

"And I love you, Angel. Don't forget that."

"Cordy…" He said drowsily. "You're amazing."

The last thing he could hear her say was, "Live. Have fun with your new life, Angel."

And then she was gone.

* * *

So, a few reviews ago someone asked about Willow's decision to trust that woman, and I meant to answer but I forgot. Anyway, I think that Willow was pushed into a corner and she had two potentially bad situations to pick from (because if the woman was telling the truth and Willow chose not to help then she would feel like it was her fault, and I don't think she deals with guilt too well) and she, having grown up around Buffy and all the heroics, decided to take action and do the right thing. Also, I think having been separated from the rest of the group had had an effect on her, and she was probably just really sad (I know I never really showed that because I didn't spend too much time on pre-Dark Willow, but that's my fault), and so yeah it was a good and bad decision that she made. It's late so I'm not sure if that made sense, but let me know if it did or whatnot.

If you ever have any questions, I'll totally answer them :)

Again, please review!


	37. Welcoming Old Friends

Hi readers! So, I realized when writing this that this story is almost over :( I just don't think there's that much left to write for it without making it go on and on and on. I mean, I wouldn't rule out continuing it (if you guys like it enough for that) in like a sequel, but definitely not in this story. So give me your thoughts on that.

Anyway, obviously, from the chapter title some old characters are being brought back, I hope they don't seem completely random (I'll talk about them more at the end), and well, I think that's all I have to say about this chapter for now.

**So enjoy, and read and review please! This story is almost to 100 reviews and it would be awesome to reach that before it ends! I know you lovely reviewers can do it!**

37. Welcoming Old Friends

"It's crazy," Faith sighed.

"I know," Buffy agreed.

"I mean, I always knew he'd do it, but… It's still hard to believe, ya know?"

Buffy just nodded.

"You okay?" Faith asked softly.

"Yeah, just anticipating the… Well, just Spike, really."

"Oh," Faith said knowingly. "I get it."

Buffy exhaled in frustration, "Are they ever gonna wake up?"

"You know how these two are. They'll wake up when they feel like it," she answered while shaking her head.

The two of them continued to sit there for a while just talking. It was a nice little rest for them, but of course, it didn't last for long.

Spike groaned as he was awakening. "Bloody…" he said, not bothering to finish the phrase.

Buffy, who had been lying on the ground, jolted up right. "Spike?"

He groaned again, "Yeah?"

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm bloody fantastic," he said sarcastically.

But Buffy didn't laugh.

Faith could feel the tension, "Uh, look, I should probably check on the others downstairs, let them know we're okay, and whatnot." She paused for a moment, "This just feels kinda awkward and I don't like that," she unabashedly confessed.

Buffy just nodded and smiled.

As Faith was hastily leaving, Buffy went and sat by Spike.

"Are you alright, luv?" He asked. Spike was fighting an inner battle right now. He was so incredibly happy to see her, but he didn't know if he should still be annoyed with her. His options were to either hug her or be a prick.

"Yeah," she said weakly, "I'm fine."

Then out of nowhere, Spike pulled her into the strongest hug imaginable. Buffy's eyes started watering immediately.

"I thought you were dead, Spike. I saw you die! You were just standing there and then..."

"I know, Buffy, I know. I saw you die too, it felt so real."

They didn't say anything after that and just sat in each other's arms. After a while, Spike finally noticed Angel lying on the floor a few feet away.

"Always has to be the star. Wake up already, you wanker!"

Buffy laughed nervously, "Umm, yeah, about Angel, Spike…"

"What about him?"

She pulled herself out of his embrace and faced him. "Well, you know that prophecy, right? The one about the vampire and the apocalypse and the whole human thing?"

"The, uh, Shanshoe? Sandshoe? Shan…"

"Yeah, that one. Well," She glanced at Angel and then back at Spike, "It came true... For Angel. I think he's the one who got us out back there…"

"Oh," Spike said. He looked at Angel for a second and then he seemed to stare into space.

Buffy gave him minute before she said everything else she needed to let him know. "Spike, I don't know how much you wanted it to be you, or if you even did, but I want you to know that I love you don't love you any less because you're a vampire. There's nothing wrong with being a vampire, well, you know, as long as you're not killing people or anything like that, and I know you're not gonna do that and I don't think it has anything to do with the soul. You not being a vampire would be like me not being a slayer-"

"The slayer," he corrected her.

"-anymore. I just wouldn't make sense. We wouldn't have met if we weren't what we are."

"Technically, I was a soulless, evil vampire when we met, so I'm not really like I was when we met-"

She put her hand over his mouth and went on, "Stop being a smartass, Spike." She dropped her hand away from his face, sighing, "Ugh, now I don't remember what I was gonna say."

"I think I got the point, luv," he assured her, and then he kissed her.

This took her by surprise, "So, you're okay?"

"Well, I did want it, but mostly just so it would be me who got it. I just wanted it for the sake of getting it. I don't really wanna be human though." He shook his head slowly, "Sad life, that is. No offence," he finished quickly.

Buffy ignored that last part and eyed him skeptically.

"Really, Buffy, I'm fine with it being Ang- Well, okay, no I'm not, but he wanted it for the right reasons and I just wanted to rub it in his giant forehead."

She couldn't help but laugh, and then she got serious, "Spike, I think that when it comes to the prophecy, Angel did deserve it."

Spike was a little hurt by this, which Buffy could tell from the expression on his face, so she quickly went on, "He's been fighting for a human life for years and years, and it hasn't been easy for him. But, I know that you are the better champion, Spike. You are."

"Sometimes, you're little sermons put me to sleep," he said, which Buffy rolled her eyes at, "but sometimes they're quite poetic."

She pretended to be thinking and replied playfully, "Hmmmm, I wonder where I picked that up from…"

"Oh, shut it, slayer," he said lightheartedly.

"Ahem," came a voice from behind them.

It caused Buffy to jump slightly. "Oh, Angel!" She said as she was getting up. Are you okay? How do you feel?"

"You know?" He asked her.

She nodded, "Well, you were breathing, so…"

"Oh, yeah…" He sighed in disbelief and grinned, "I feel amazing, Buffy. I'm alive!"

She smiled brightly at him.

Spike, who had been watching silently so far, walked up to Angel. "Uh, well, good for you mate," was all Spike could get out without causing himself any physical injury.

"Thank you, Spike," Angel replied suspiciously. It was rare for them to say anything nice to each other.

Angel looked around. Someone was missing. "Where's Faith?"

"She went downstairs to see the others."

"Good, hopefully everything's calm down there now. We should head down there too, you know, get out of this hellhole, and also, I think we should talk," he shrugged, "I have some things to tell you."

Buffy and Spike looked at each other, both were wondering what it was he had to say. "Okay," Buffy said unsurely.

"Who does he think he is giving us orders now?" Spike whispered to Buffy. She only shushed him.

The trio made their way downstairs in a comfortable silence, but it didn't last long.

As the elevator doors opened, the hysteria of the ground floor was revealed. Faith, Giles, Xander, and Illyria were caught up in battle with the countless Wolfram & Hart employees. And in the back of the lobby, Buffy could make out a familiar face watching the fight. They were as calm as could be.

Angel, by habit, started to rush into the room and join the fight, but luckily, Buffy and Spike pulled him back in time.

"Hold on, Peaches, you're gonna get yourself killed."

"I still know how to fight!" Angel protested.

"Angel!" Buffy said quickly, for she had something more important to deal with. "The difference between human and vamp strength will shock you. You're just not used to it yet. Don't do anything stupid and get yourself killed. Stay by Faith or Illyria."

Spike nodded in agreement.

Then Buffy pulled him out of the elevator with her. "See there, in the back? She's the one who did all that freaky mind stuff to us for the senior partners." Buffy couldn't believe that is was her.

Spike understood what she was getting to. "I'll cover you."

The two of them charged forward, taking out employee after employee. There was no stopping and no mercy for anyone, but the closer they got the more demons there were in the way, and they were harder to kill. Yet, they were still no match for Buffy and Spike together.

"Spike, we're almost there," Buffy yelled at him.

"Alright, keep it up, slayer!"

In the front of the lobby, Angel was not having an easy time.

"Jesus, Angel, what's wrong with you?" Xander asked him between hits. Something was very wrong when Xander was better at something than Angel.

"Angel…" Giles started to say and then he trailed off. It was obvious he was thinking a mile a minute now. "My God… That's what Faith was trying to tell us." He had stopped fighting now which was fine because most of the employees had swarmed Buffy and Spike, although Giles had no idea why. "You're a human now, aren't you? The Shanshu…"

"Yeah," Angel answered proudly, but suppressing a grin. He didn't mind the human strength, it would just take some getting used to.

"Well, that's fascinating…" Giles said, trailing off into his thoughts again.

"You'd think you would retain some more moves at least, but you just suck," Xander said gleefully. Yes, he was really enjoying this.

"Don't worry, Harris, I'll get it together and go back to kicking your ass at everything soon," Angel threw back at him.

Meanwhile, Spike and Buffy were making progress. They were slowly getting closer to the witch, and Buffy's blood lust was only getting stronger. "Almost there," Buffy whispered over and over to herself until there was a clear path. "Spike!" She yelled.

He turned around and saw the opening, "Go!" He shouted at her.

And then she ran. Enemies were charging her, but she knew Spike was right there behind her. He wouldn't let anyone get near her.

A few seconds later, the two women were standing face to face.

"Well, hi, Buffy. It's been a while."

"You know what, Amy, I liked you better when you were a rat," Buffy told her. She knew she didn't really have time to stand here and have a chat, so she pulled her arm back as quickly as she could, but she was immobilized before she could complete the punch.

"Buffy!" Spike bellowed, but he kept fighting.

"Oh, Buffy, so foolish of you. Yes, I'm no Willow, but I'm still pretty good."

"It doesn't matter, Amy, because one way or another, this will end," Buffy said threateningly.

"We'll see about that, slayer." Amy directed her attention towards the employees, who she was controlling, "I've got this, finish off the others."

"Spike go! Help them!"

He wasn't sure what to do, but he was smart enough to realize that if he tried to take out Amy he would just be immobilized like Buffy, or dead. Either way he'd be completely useless to everyone, so he listened to her and headed towards the others.

"This is much better. Now I get you all to myself," she said cheerfully.

"Actually," someone interrupted, "you don't. Sorry to ruin your plans, Amy, but then again you've never minded causing me trouble, so…"

It was Willow. The real Willow. No black hair or veins- none of it. The look on Amy's face was priceless. Nothing could've shocked her more. The same could probably be said for Buffy.

"W-Wha… How? You're supposed to be dead. I mean, one way or another… You were supposed to die no matter what."

"Oh, I thought that too, Amy. You know, you really did a good job. When I found out how much you had to do with this, well, I was impressed. And then of course I was angry, and I still am."

Amy was panicking one second and then completely calm the next. It was as if she had remembered something. "You don't have any magic in you anymore, Willow. You're putting on a tough show, but it's just a bluff."

"Is it, Amy?" Willow asked, smiling coyly.

"Yes. It is." And then she attempted to cast a spell towards Willow. But Willow blocked it, "It's over Amy."

"No!" She yelled and started to cast again, but Willow was too quick for her. The spell made Amy vanish.

Now Buffy was released and so were Amy's little minions.

"Was that her or did you do that?" Buffy asked, making sure Amy hadn't gotten away.

"Me," Willow said softly. "Well, not really me. It was Tara, her magic. Amy was right, I don't have it anymore… And, it's probably for the best."

Buffy nodded in agreement and she didn't feel bad about it.

"I thought you'd, like, sacrificed yourself or something," Buffy said to her.

"So did I," Willow confessed. "I don't know how I'm still here, Buffy, because I shouldn't be. But then I saw Tara and she told me that there was something I still had to do, so who knows. Maybe I'm done now."

Buffy didn't know what to say to that. "Where did you send her?"

Willow shrugged, "Somewhere safe for now, until I can deal with her."

The two women had remained hidden behind all the Wolfram & Hart employees standing around.

"Tara," Willow started to say without preamble, "told me that she was disappointed, but she understood and forgave me. I mean, I wasn't expecting her to say 'Good job, Wil!' or anything, but…" She trailed off.

"You said Amy had a lot of involvement?" Buffy asked, changing the subject. While she felt for Willow, and still loved her, she had nothing to say to her about Tara's words.

"Yeah. That old woman? Amy. I still chose to do this though, or I'm pretty sure I did. But it still makes me angry."

"Honestly, Willow," Buffy exhaled, "either way the world would have suffered. I can't say what situation would've been better, but I understand why you did everything. You had the right intentions, well, at least when you were in control and not the magic."

"Did I?" Willow asked rhetorically. "I'm not sure anymore."

Buffy shrugged, "I'm not sure what to tell you there. It's been so long since we've really known each other, Willow."

"I know. I'm sorry, Buffy, not for what happened recently, well, I am, but you know what I mean. I'm sorry for what happened at the end in Sunnydale, and after in England. That's where everything went wrong." She went silent, and then after a moment she went on, "I have to go now Buffy."

She nodded, "I know. I forgive you, Willow. Don't punish yourself for more than you need to. Do you know what will happen after you deal with Amy?"

"No," she answered softly.

"Are you scared?"

"Yeah," she said, but it sounded more like a question. "I don't know… Whatever happens happens." Willow looked around and then shrugged. "You're amazing, Buffy." And then she vanished.

Buffy was left there alone for a moment before Spike walked over. He glanced at the spot where Willow was standing a second ago, "I thought she was dead."

"Does anyone stay dead nowadays?"

Spike smirked.

"But, honestly, I dunno. Maybe she will be. Did the others see her?"

"No, I don't think so. They're all preoccupied with Angel. Are you gonna tell them about that?"

"Yeah, eventually. How's everyone?"

"Well, Angel's got a few scrapes, Faith's alright, but Giles and Xander are pretty drained."

"Oh God, they've been fighting down here for so long."

"Don't beat yourself up about it, Buffy. We had a lot to deal with ourselves. Otherwise we'd have been down here with them."

She nodded and grabbed his arm, "I'm happy you're okay."

Spike's mouth dried up as he thought about his last experience with the senior partners. "I am too," he said hoarsely. Then he laughed tensely, "I don't think we should get into this here."

Buffy laughed in relief, "I agree. There's too much…" She couldn't find the word to describe what she was feeling.

"Yeah," Spike agreed, understanding exactly what she meant. "We just need to focus on getting out of this hellhole."

"You don't think we're gonna be able to just walk out?" She asked disappointedly.

"I dunno, but I'd rather not assume it'll be easy."

Buffy sighed, "You're right. Besides, we still have to figure out what to do about the slayers the partners brainwashed."

Spike thought about that for a moment, "They'll fight us if we go in there or if they get out. It's what they've been programmed to do."

She sighed, there was no way they could continue fighting, especially slayers at that. All Buffy wanted to do was sleep, and maybe eat. "Well, I'll talk to Giles about that. Hopefully he has an idea. He and Andrew deal with the slayers, not me."

Spike wrapped his arm around her as they headed towards the others. "We can put that off for a while if we need to."

"Spike," Buffy said reprovingly, "we can't just leave them there. It's completely inhumane."

"Do you wanna keep fighting?"

"No, but I just… They didn't do anything to deserve this," she said tiredly.

"And you didn't do this to them, neither did Willow. It was all the senior partners."

She looked up and saw Xander and Giles. They looked like hell. "Oh... I'm so sorry." Buffy said and hugged them both.

"Don't worry, Buff, they were nothing we couldn't handle. Well, except that green guy," Xander said to Giles, who nodded in agreement. "But good ol' Blue over here showed him what was what."

Illyria stood there stoically.

"Well, as much as I'd like to stand around and rejoice and explain everything, I think it would probably be better to get outta here before anything else happens and someone dies," Buffy said seriously.

No one disagreed with that.

As they were heading for the elevator, she brought up the subject of the slayers to Giles.

"Well, I suppose we could stay in the vicinity, and after some rest go back down and try to talk to them. Maybe we could take one out and try to recondition her. It won't be that simple though." That was the best idea he had for now.

In the elevator, Buffy pushed the button for the basement, but nothing was happening.

"Blood again?" Buffy asked Spike, the blood conspiracy theorist.

"Most like," he answered grimly.

Buffy put the same finger up to the little needle and pressed her finger down. Nothing happened until she pressed the button again. After receiving a blood sacrifice, as small as it was, the elevator headed towards the basement.

"Thank God we're finally getting outta here," Faith muttered.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Buffy said seriously. "We still have a lot to do."

Xander and Faith glared at her. "Don't ruin it, Buff." Xander said pleadingly.

Buffy smiled, "Sorry, can't help it."

Xander sighed.

A few seconds later the lift stopped and the Scoobies piled out as quickly as possible.

"This way," Buffy commanded. She led the way to the back of the basement, making her way through the hallways towards the small back room where the portal sent them.

It couldn't be this easy, could it? Buffy, who was still a little jumpy from all the fighting, kept expecting someone to jump out and attack, but it never happened.

They reached the small back room quickly, and suddenly Buffy had a thought. What if the portal had closed? That was something she hadn't considered. She didn't voice this concern aloud though. Pushing the thought aside, Buffy opened the door.

The portal was still opened. Buffy silently laughed at her own paranoia. The group walked forward towards the swirling, dark red ball of energy.

"Okay, we don't know what's on the other side of that. We don't know how many other associates there are, or if the slayers are still locked up. I'm gonna go in there and make sure everything's fine. I'll be right back." After receiving nods all around, Buffy jumped through and headed back for their dimension.

Going through portals made her feel a little odd, but it wore off in a few minutes. She got up and headed up the staircase, and after that, through the other room. Now she was in the main area where the slayers were held. Buffy didn't get the feeling anyone else was around, but she had to be thorough. She tiptoed down a hallway, but she still didn't sense anyone near, except the slayers.

It was tempting to go and see them in person, but Buffy knew better. She left and headed back for her friends. She made it back down the staircase and through the portal. The ground greeted her, and Spike helped her up. "Okay, I don't think there's anyone else there besides the slayers, and they're still locked up. We should go now; I don't wanna risk them getting loose and attacking, or anyone else for that matter."

One by one the Scoobies went through the portal.

Then Buffy thought of something. "What should we do? I mean, I don't like that this link between the partner's dimension is here in our dimension."

They all thought about that for a minute, and then Angel looked at Illyria. "Couldn't you destroy this?" He asked her uncertainly.

"Of course." She answered emotionless as usual.

"But how? How are you getting you're power back?" Angel replied. "Nevermind, we can talk about this later."

"We'd really appreciate it if you could blow this thing to smithereens or, you know, however you do it, Blue." Spike appealed to her.

"Leave," was all she answered.

Spike and Angel looked at each other in confusion.

"Uh, yeah, alright," Spike said. "Well, let's leave the woman to her business then."

Buffy was unsure, but in the end she saw no other option, so she followed Spike and Angel out of the room.

In the small room, she turned to Spike and Giles, "I think you were both right about the slayers. There's no way we can deal with them right now, and even though I don't like leaving them in here it's the only thing we can do for now."

Giles thought about telling her not to feel guilty about this, but he knew it was pointless.

"But, I just hate the idea of leaving them here like this."

"I know, but don't worry, Buffy. We will come back for them," Giles assured her.

She nodded. All they needed to do was get out of here, and Illyria walked into the room right on time.

Buffy headed for the exit, "This way!" She led the rest of the gang back through the hallways which they entered and safely out of the L.A. underground.

There was one small problem, well, only for one person.

The sun was out; all bright and warm.

"Argh! Spike shouted as he covered his exposed areas. Even though his life was in danger, Spike now noticed how much damage his leather duster had taken. "Bloody hell," he muttered.

Giles took off his coat, also damaged, and draped it over Spike. There weren't many places for shade in this part of L.A. due to the epic battle with the senior partners.

"What does this mean?" Xander asked. "The sun," he said in clarification.

"Well," Buffy answered distantly, "the grass and trees have grown back too, so I think Willow reversed the all the destruction, at least to the environment."

Xander wasn't sure what to make of that in regard to Willow, so he didn't say anything. Besides, Buffy seemed very focused on something.

"What is that?" She asked. "Does anyone else see that?"

Far off in the distance, Buffy could make out moving objects, and maybe people.

"Yes, I see it." Giles said worriedly.

"They're comin' for us," Faith commented.

Buffy wasn't quite sure what to do. Should they stay or run? She had a feeling that they weren't in danger though. "I think they're humans."

Giles and Xander sat down while they were waiting, and Spike was still hiding under the two jackets. Otherwise everyone else stood around in anticipation.

It seemed to take forever for them to approach, but when Buffy made out the first figure heading towards them, she almost fainted. These small reunions were going to be the death of her.

The man in black was striding towards them with a big gun in his hands. He had also been a little panicked about this, but it was for different reasons.

He stopped a few feet away from the group.

He spoke first. "Buffy," he said with a nod of acknowledgement.

She nodded back and with a small smile addressed him with, "Riley."

* * *

Hey y'all, so, question : Do you want a chapter continuing Amy and Willow's thing, or would you rather leave what happens up to your own minds?

I hope Amy's appearance didn't seem out of nowhere. Like Willow said, she's had more involvement than I've let on, but I'm not gonna explicitly say anything about that though. Oh, and it's possible that bringing Willow back might seem like a cop out, but I hope that with how things go you'll end up being satisfied :)

SO, leave me a review, yeah?


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